Originally Posted by
JayKiwi
It sure did.
The bottom line: Any attempt to portray this as anything but cost-cutting 'sustainability theatre' is disingenuous to the real issues of sustainability and climate change. If Air NZ were ultra-concerned about the plastic, the bottles would be replaced with an alternative, and one that may actually cost more to implement, e.g. fully degradable bottles etc. But I think we all know that there is no way that is going to happen. At the same time, it is a business that is trying to stay profitable in a tricky environment (no pun), so two sides to everything.
All said and done, water is a basic need, and if I struggle in the future to have easy (instant) access to hydration when flying, due to some bizarrro attempt to cost save, that is a bad look for an airline whose premium cabins are not cheap to fly in. However you slice it, taking in-seat water sources away will blatantly deliver you less hydrated passengers on average.
It does need to be remembered that water is only being removed on short haul TT and Islands flights. Air NZ serve plenty of water on these flights particularly as the premium meal service in BP is ongoing for well over 1hr of a 3hr flight let alone the preflight and post takeoff drinks. I don't agree with this move, but to suggest people will be dehydrated is frankly a bit of a stretch.
I often drink 2-3 bottles at least on overnight on long haul flights so if they got rid of those and I had to get up or call a crew member to come and fill a bottle it would be a real pain.