British Airways has been dragged into its very own Watergate scandal after it was revealed the Heathrow-based carrier had removed water bottles from passenger meal trays as part of another eye-raising initiative that last left customers furious.
One elite frequent flyer discovered what had happened when he was recently flying home on an overnight flight from Miami to Heathrow. Although he was traveling in BA’s World Traveller Economy cabin, a crew member asked him if he would like a glass of Champagne.
As the passenger doesn’t drink alcohol, he declined the offer but asked if he could instead have a bottle of water. To his astonishment, the crew member told him that there weren’t any bottles of water on the plane.
“I’ve become well used to the bare minimum from BA, but this is a new low even for them,” the passenger wrote in a post on the frequent flyer website, Flyer Talk. “Obviously a cost-saving exercise under the guise of saving the polar bears,” the post continued.
It turns out that British Airways removed water bottles on flights between London and Boston, Los Angeles, and Miami, as part of a two-week trial which is due to end on June 22.
The reason given for the initiative, which currently only affects BA’s World Traveller and World Traveller Plus cabins, was to reduce the amount of single-use plastic the airline uses.
Trial Details…
- Water bottles have been removed from passenger meal trays in BA’s World Traveller (Economy) and World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy) cabins.
- The two week trial is taking place on three routes: London Heathrow (LHR) to Boston (BOS), Los Angeles (LAX), and Miami (MIA).
- Plastic tumblers have also been replaced with paper cups on these routes.
- British Airways says removing plastic water bottles could slash its use of single-use plastics.
- Club World (Business Class) and First are unaffected by the trial.
Passengers have been left incredulous over the trial, however, arguing that plastic water bottles can be easily recycled or replaced with more sustainable options like boxed water or canned water.
The fact that British Airways hasn’t gone down the path of trialling other options and has simply removed a perk that has long been a part of this in-flight experience has left many suggesting it’s just another cost-cutting initiative.
Last October, British Airways faced another outcry from fed-up passengers after the airline cut the amount of food on offer in its Club World long-haul Business Class as part of another cost-cutting move.
The scandal was dubbed Brunchgate because rather than serving a hot lunch, British Airways decided it would only serve breakfast on all long-haul flights departing between 8:30 a.m. and 11:29 a.m.
It immediately became apparent, however, that by the time that flights had taken off and in-flight service was underway, the airline was serving breakfast at around 1 pm.
At the same time, British Airways cut back the amount of food on offer on late-night departures in its Club World cabin, even on some of its longest routes to destinations such as Cape Town and Singapore.
Passengers traveling back from East Coast destinations in the United States were offered even less, with options including paninis and soup instead of the normal four-course dinner service.
As always, British Airways insisted the changes had only been made because of passenger feedback, but several months later, the airline quietly ditched the unpopular menu changes.
Matt’s take
You really have to wonder whether anyone in BA’s luxe headquarters building close to Heathrow has any idea how their constant stream of initiatives is going to be perceived by passengers.
It should have been fairly obvious that removing a perk, no matter how laudable the intention, would be treated with disdain by frequent flyers who have grown increasingly weary of BA’s constant cutbacks.
As one commentator posted, this has a lot to do with messaging. British Airways could have proactively emailed affected passengers to advise them that a trial was taking place and encourage passengers to bring a refillable bottle with them to the airport.
Should British Airways provide single-use water bottles to customers? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below…
My personal take is that this is a positive move. Plastic water bottles should be eliminated altogether – and poured water in paper cups is a perfectly fine alternative for onboard service. No need for all the tabloid like drama that this post incites. The comment that these are “easily recyclable” is also laughable as a quick Google reveals that 95% of plastics aren’t recycled, and even if they were, are sent to a developing country. Plus, with greater awareness about microplastics in water bottles and plenty of water bottle fillers (in most major airports), maybe it’s a good thing for all of us.
I agree. I do force myself to bring my own canteen (like a peasant) to fill at airports and do have concerns over massive consumption and use of single use water bottles. I worked for a major hotel chain at a luxury hotel and while we promoted the idea that all our bottles were recycled, they weren’t. Employees, guests, meeting attendees just chucked in the trash bin and there was no sorting through bins to extract bottles. As long as water on-demand is available I’m supportive of the change. Sorry fellow travelers. Would love to see high-end water filtration machine one day make it into planes for passenger use.
No need to feel like a peasant. At SFO there are very fashionable, modern, touch-free water dispenser immediately past security. If you forgot to bring an empty water bottle, bottles of water in very study aluminum that can be reused many times, but are so fancy that you’d feel bad if you lost one. Reasonably priced for an airport at $4. You cannot buy water bottled in plastic in SFO. Also just flew Delta and they used paper/fiber cups for all beverages, and they were collected and separated from trash, presumably to be recycled or composted.
Maybe, just maybe, BA should have a meeting with actual passengers before implementing these nincompoop policies that sounded so splendid in the ivory tower. It really feels like every time BA makes a change it’s just some new way to screw over passengers rather than seeing what those passengers actually want and finding a way to give it to them – the old “provide a better product so more people will buy it” mentality. For an airline with such a storied history it’s heartbreaking to see BA constantly expending vast effort to make things worse for customers.
Water is not a perk. Never will be. On a long flight its a basic need.
How did airlines provide water and other beverage from between the 1930s and when the individual water bottle became so trendy, I’m guessing early 1990s. They poured glasses for their passengers.
OMG – a return to the service of yesterday. However the story is written from a entitled first world perspective. Ask for a refill.
I’m so fed up with all that “we save the world” things. It won’t happen anyway as long as you don’t stop people in certain regions of the world f***ing like rabbits, rapidly growing world population.
This was a 2 week test. It wasnt a policy change. Certainly one part of a test is customer feedback. I would assume they might get more positive than negative comments.
It is laudable to cut back on plastics. Ive personally noted a rise in people carrying their own personal water bottles. They fill once past security. Its a way to keep hydrated on flights.