I’ve gotta say, this strikes me as being particularly cheap (thanks to WingTips for flagging this and Gastrocnemius for the title inspiration)…
In this post:
British Airways tries to cut corners on hydration
On long haul flights, it’s pretty standard for airlines to offer passengers individual bottles of water, so that they can stay at least a little hydrated. British Airways is always looking for new industry leading ways to cut costs, and this is the latest example of that.
According to a FlyerTalk thread, for a period of at least two weeks (ending on June 22, 2025), British Airways is trialing cutting individual water bottles in economy on select long haul flights. Specifically, this is being trialed on Airbus A380 routes to Boston (BOS), Los Angeles (LAX), and Miami (MIA).
The airline is loading more extra large water bottles along with new paper cups, and if a customer requests water, that’s how it will be served.
British Airways is of course running this trial to asses passenger feedback, and presumably analyze how consumption changes. Some people don’t realize this, but those post-flight surveys matter a lot to airlines. So if you’re on a flight impacted by this change, be sure to fill out that survey and share your negative perception of the change, or else this might become permanent.
This kind of service cut doesn’t seem practical
I can totally appreciate that bottled water isn’t very environmentally friendly. Then again, having big bottles and cups isn’t ideal either (neither is flying on a plane, I suppose). Still, I think this is a service cut that will really be noticed over time.
Not having bottled water will increase the workload for the crew, it’ll make it tough for passengers to stay hydrated, and it’s just going to lead to unhappiness. There are going to be so many more spilled drinks when everyone has two cups on their tray (water and something else), rather than getting the bottle on the tray, and being able to fill it up later.
Also, can I just point out the humor in British Airways leading the way here? Look, I don’t think anyone actually thinks that British Airways is premium, but let’s remember that in 2022, CEO Sean Doyle touted how British Airways was going to become increasingly premium:
“There is room for optimism that we are on the way out. Putting the premium proposition into the heart of what we do is going to be key. We want people to come off a British Airways flight and talk about it as if it’s something different. Any airline can go out and buy products off the shelf and put them on a plane. It’s actually the confidence and the style and the intimacy that we deliver in service that is going to be a differentiator.”
Bottom line
British Airways is running a trial on select long haul routes, whereby the airline is no longer providing water bottles in economy. Instead, water is just poured into paper cups. I don’t think any of us are actually surprised that British Airways is trying to get away with this. I’m curious if post-flight surveys are taking a hit on these flights.
Anyone tried to fill their own water bottle from one of the two, super-slow filling stations in T5 that serve disgusting lukewarm-warm mains water? You likely almost missed your flight!
Rather spend £3 in Boots and get a couple of 500ml plastic bottles of cold water.
Not sure that reducing this amount of plastic is a bad thing, taking the stance that flying is bad anyway means you are not prepared to even try. From what I see most people that are not flying at the front of the plane carry their own water bottles these days which of course you can’t take through security but if you have water filing stations near the gates you can just fill your water...
Not sure that reducing this amount of plastic is a bad thing, taking the stance that flying is bad anyway means you are not prepared to even try. From what I see most people that are not flying at the front of the plane carry their own water bottles these days which of course you can’t take through security but if you have water filing stations near the gates you can just fill your water bottles which and get on with it. Even when I fly at the front of the plane I take a water bottle for the multi hour passport control queues! Whilst BA are notorious for silly cost cutting perhaps this one is not just about the cost cutting.
On my BA flight from Doha to LHR last week, they had loaded 4 trays of pancakes for the entire economy section for breakfast. Service was a shambles.
I don't think many airlines serve water bottles in economy anymore or ever did for that matter (other than with meals sometime). If I remember correctly Lufthansa does but Air France and KLM don't. Delta used to until Covid. Water bottles are nice in economy but don't think its very common anymore
I agree. From my experience, most airlines do not serve water bottles in Economy on long haul flights. So no big deal in my view. I also think that it does not necessarily increase the workload for the crew. Water is just served in the galley (self-service).
Watergate. Brilliant. Proof, not that it was needed, that Ben doesn't just get his news from TikTok.
After all the "gates" we've had over the decade it's wonderful to see the return of the original.
For anyone who doesn't get the joke Google "Nixon Watergate."
Why bother serving free water at all to those ungrateful passengers in the back who only choose based on price and schedule
I bet you're the life of the party and chicks dig you.
Practically, a self imposed public relations disaster.
Cutting back on water AND making crew work harder?
BA, please give your collective head a shake. This is NOT acceptable.
Hard seats, inadequate meals, now the prospect of dehydration? For real?
Way too much drama over a water bottle. They're small bottles anyways.
Don't many airlines do the standard larger bottle cup offering. So why the drama??
The only ones that might be grumpy about this are the FAs.
Lol great line ‘British Airways is always looking for new industry leading ways to cut costs’
Guess that "Brit", who is a BA apologist but cares about Delta so much, is gonna defend this stupid change.
Isn’t this how water is served on any US airline already?
Great! Maybe this will finally move people to start voting with their wallets and book other airlines. And BA can be happy too. With no passengers, they can also save cost for food, crew, and fuel.
Isn't it bad enough that they're 1) flying British Airways 2) on the disgusting Fatbus? Now you're taking away water? Of course, this is coming from a country that's allowed pretty much every waterway to become an open sewer, so maybe it's no surprise.
There is indeed a disconnect between what the CEO of BA said in 2022 about bringing BA back to its former glory and some of the actions actually taken (Executive Club changes, continuing to charge for seat selection in Club World, misfortune with brunch, and now water bottles).
All this goes to show that British Airways's decline is continuing to this day, and this path has started from the extreme cost cutting mentality of Alex...
There is indeed a disconnect between what the CEO of BA said in 2022 about bringing BA back to its former glory and some of the actions actually taken (Executive Club changes, continuing to charge for seat selection in Club World, misfortune with brunch, and now water bottles).
All this goes to show that British Airways's decline is continuing to this day, and this path has started from the extreme cost cutting mentality of Alex Cruz. I still remember them charging for hot water, and only providing airplane tank water free.
Definitely not the BA I remember of 20-40 years back, or even a decade ago. What would I give for better padded seats and an English breakfast served on a short haul flight in World Traveler? Hard to believe this airline was the Worlds Favorite Airline at one point, and was top ranked as recently as 2006. British Airways just isn't British these days. More like a return to "Bloody Awful".
You'd think an airline like BA would take it upon herself to show the best of British values and culture to the world, but yet it shows the culture of mediocrity, stagnation, and a can't do mindset that has taken hold of the country.
I used to think BA were better than the US airlines or even many European carriers. But compared to some of the other carriers actually setting the standard, they seem only marginally better than Easyjet or Ryanair.
Even in biz (on any airline) water always seems to be in short supply. Most airports have water fountains near gates.. I think every pax should fill up a 1litre bottle before they board, both for the environment and just good hydration.
BA at T5 should invest more in initiatives to drive water filling pre flight
People should just bring their own food too....and pillow for seat padding....and a bucket to shit in.
I’m dead at that last bit. LOL.
Well 1 passenger X 1litre on their person means on a fully laden A380 (BA config, of course ;))
.. that's 469 litres less water that needs to be carried. That's almost half a tonne of stuff they don't need to load (we'll get to format of loading in a second), and is effectively variable with the passenger load.
Storage of that water on an airplane? that's two large washing machines combined of space...
Well 1 passenger X 1litre on their person means on a fully laden A380 (BA config, of course ;))
.. that's 469 litres less water that needs to be carried. That's almost half a tonne of stuff they don't need to load (we'll get to format of loading in a second), and is effectively variable with the passenger load.
Storage of that water on an airplane? that's two large washing machines combined of space if they are just water tanks (which don't exist btw), but anyway as another poster has mentioned, they wouldn't even drink because.. they want bottled water. So...
If using standard 500ml water bottles:
You'd need 938 bottles
Each bottle (including its plastic walls and shape) takes up roughly 600-650ml of space
Total space needed: approximately 580-610 liters (0.58-0.61 cubic meters)
If using 1.5-liter bottles:
You'd need about 313 bottles
Each bottle occupies roughly 1.8-2.0 liters of space
Total space needed: approximately 565-625 liters (0.57-0.63 cubic meters)
To visualize this:
Instead of needing a 77cm cube, you'd now need roughly an 84cm cube (2.75 feet on each side)
That's about 25-35% more space than the liquid alone
Think of a large chest freezer or a small walk-in closet.
--
And just for arguments sake, if everyone brought 'their own bucket' I think you dont need me to explain having specific toilet cubicles on board is a much better use of space.
Ben, you are absolutely wrong. This is ASTONISHING cheap. My wife and I have flown on BA for going on fifty years and what has happened over the past 10+ years is nothing short of sad. The current CEO had pledged to restore BA's reputation for quality. He hasn't. Indeed, BA asks whether it represents the "best of Britain." I can't help but answer "no."
Agreed. Even 10-20 years ago, at least it felt like they were getting somewhere. By the end of the 2010s, the destruction was complete.
You know this is going to happen cos 1) theyre a horrible, cheap (but not in cost) airline and 2) it lets then bleet on about blah blah plastics.
Is 310ml (from the photo) really the size of the bottle they give out? Given the dry, pressurized environment on a plane that's barely enough to stay hydrated for an hour, let alone the whole flight. And they plan to make that worse?!
Lol, they usually give smaller bottles. The normal size bottle is only given out in business class.
I would rather they have a water cooler by the gallery and I can serve myself whenever. Even better, put in a coke freestyle machine
You should understand that the aircraft you travel on might very well have been anyplace in the world 18 hours prior. Water quality differs in different cities.
I will only drink water from a bottle that I opened.
some british consulting firm: "well if you stop serving water, not only can you cut costs by purchasing less water, but you can also remove bathrooms onboard and squeeze in more seats and increase revenue per flight"
BA: "wow. Einstein-level thinking. take a million pounds"
Probably the same idiots that advised them to do the changes to their tier points.