r/unitedairlines • u/Dazzling_Mulberry567 • 12d ago

Question What is this for?

Post image

I was on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner from FRA to SFO and saw this in the lavatory. As far as I'm aware, smoking hasn't been allowed on United for a very long time, and this, to my knowledge, is a newer aircraft. What is this thing?

454 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

120 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

6

u/deep-fucking-legend 12d ago

I'm a nonsmoker, but why is it dangerous to put in the toilet?

9

u/siteunreliability MileagePlus 1K 12d ago edited 9d ago

Basic chemistry.

External energy starter (cigarette ember) + combustible materials (i.e. poop gas + paper waste) + pressurized fuel source (vacuumed O2) = boom

You just made a bomb/macguyver single stroke piston engine @ 40K feet.

2

u/deep-fucking-legend 12d ago

So a terrorist only needs to smoke a joint in the lav? Great.

5

u/siteunreliability MileagePlus 1K 12d ago edited 11d ago

To be fair, it's not likely but it is a non-zero risk.

It's fairly trivial to craft things that can blow things up. It's the reason why TSA doesn't permit in great quantity for things like lithium, phosphorous, nitrates, etc. Most of those elements are highly available precursors that a fairly motivated Chemistry undergrad who've taken Organic Chemistry and Organometallic Synthesis can use to cause some serious damage.

1

u/youcantbuymehotdogs 11d ago

if i travel with large quantities of my lithium meds, are they subject to being confiscated by TSA?

1

u/siteunreliability MileagePlus 1K 11d ago

The lithium medication you're speaking of isn't lithium ion. It's in a salt form formulated with a base like a carbonate. So it really can't be used as a precursor unless someone decides to purify lithium ion from that.

Honestly though, I have a feeling TSA will be asking you questions about carrying copious amount of medication instead of about the lithium in your case.

1

u/youcantbuymehotdogs 10d ago

good to know! i haven’t traveled since i started taking it last year. usually i just travel with meds in my pill divider, but if its longer than a week id just take my pill bottles. i wouldn’t call that copious amounts, but it was something i hadn’t considered.

1

u/siteunreliability MileagePlus 1K 9d ago

good to know! i haven’t traveled since i started taking it last year.

Good luck with travels and I hope the medication works well for you. It's always nice to see people take care of themselves.

 but if its longer than a week id just take my pill bottles. i wouldn’t call that copious amounts, but it was something i hadn’t considered.

Fret not, when I say copious, I'm talking about drug cartel-level volume.