It Could Cost US Airlines $3.4 Million to Stop Passengers Getting Trapped in Boeing 737 Bathrooms Because of Defective Door Latch

It could cost US-based airlines more than $3.4 million to replace bathroom locks on Boeing 737 aircraft to prevent a repeat of an incident in which a passenger was trapped in the lavatory of a United Airlines flight forcing the pilots to make an unscheduled landing so that engineers to free the woman.

In a proposed airworthiness directive, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) traced the problem to a plastic structure within the door latch of bifold lavatory doors fitted on certain models of the Boeing 737, including the 737-700, 737-800, 737-900, 737-900ER, 737-8, and 737-9.

The incident that triggered this proposed rulemaking occured back in 2019 when the woman got stuck in the lavatory of a United Airlines flight from Washington DC to San Francisco.

Flight attendants tried to free the woman from the lavatory, but despite their best efforts, they couldn’t get the bifold door to open. Rather than continuing with the cross-country flight with the woman trapped in the lavatory for the duration, the pilots made an unscheuled landing in Denver where United has a maintenance base.

The FAA said it was moved to create the airworthiness directive because: “In an otherwise survivable emergency event ( e.g., severe turbulence, medical emergency, or emergency egress), potential damages to the lavatory lock could impede access to the passenger and impede egress during an emergency evacuation, which may result in serious injury to the trapped occupant.”

In a breakdown of the costs to replace the errant latch, the FAA said that parts and labor would cost around $1,302 to replace two doors per plane. The total cost for affected aircraft could reach $3,400,824.

The proposed rulemaking is open for comments until May 27, 2025. If approved, airlines will have four months to replace the bifold door latches.

Although the FAA’s rulemaking refers to a 2019 incident, a similar event occured in December 2023 when a man became stuck in the lavatory of a Delta Air Lines Boeing 737 during a flight to New Orleans.

In that incident, the flight attendants were unable to release the bifold door and it took one of the pilots to physically yank open the door. The man was finally released from the tiny lavatory cubicle after being stuck inside for 35 minutes.

In 2024, a man onboard a Spicejet Boeing 737 in India also got locked in the lavatory after a malfunction with the door. The man had to sit in the lavatory for the duration of the one-hour and 45-minute flight, and he was only freed once the plane landed at its destination.

Spicejet promised to give the man a full refund on his ticket as compensation for his experience.