Yes… you heard me right.  They have no sinks for their toilets.
Normally, I complain about government regulation, but when I heard that the FAA had to tell Horizon to add sinks to their airplanes or stop letting their employees handle food items, I near spit out my wine.
Horizon Airlines is a subsidiary of Alaska Air, and operates 52 crafts without sinks, according to the Seattle Times.
Here’s the thing. Â This has been going on for over eight years.
In fact, it started a little over eight years to this date. Â Taking the sinks out of bathrooms is so shocking, the usually-vigilant Consumerist didn’t believe initial reports about it.
(From June 1, 2008)
The Era Of Sinks Has Sunk!: That’s right, gone are the days of hand washing in airplanes. It’s outdated, unnecessary. Besides, it’s not like you need to wash your hands before the meal service.
…
-OR-
This Particular Sink Was Broken: This option is boring and consequently wrong.
Except the era of sinks was over–well, at least for Horizon.  The snark in this article was directed towards a New York Times piece they assumed was alarmist.  Because who would actually take the sinks out of airplanes?
Oh yeah, Horizon.
Some news articles have been suggesting that Horizon might need to add the sinks back to flights in reaction to this warning.  But the warning itself was against serving ice on flights without a sink.  And you know–ice costs money and requires money to stow.  (And the sinks were originally cut to save money).
My guess is the next “cost saving measure” on Horizon flights will be to cut ice completely.
Suddenly, Spirit Airlines doesn’t look so bad.
(On the subject of gross things and flying, did you know those high-powered hand dryers in the bathroom basically spread bacteria into the air?)
I suggest you move on to Spirit Airlines those of us in the NW have no issues with Horizon.