Prospero. Yes we all know that, this is the BoB thread after all. The debate here is much deeper, and seems now to be split between those who believe that BA should not be offering free water and that they would seemingly happily consume unlimited amounts of tank water...as it is so good and clean, and those who realize what is actually going on.
Confus, no crew does NOT do that, those bottles they carry they either fill at the airport, or from bottled water on the plane. No crew ever drinks water from the tanks (yes they often drink tea and coffee which is boiled, before anyone tries that canard). By "regularly" you mean on average approximately every three months, as that is in fact what BA's procedure is (again it varies according to hours/cycles, etc so can be longer or shorter), rather than national and Eu regulations which state "at least once a year". As you have a problem with this actual fact, why don't you inform us what "regularly" means then? Also, please inform us, how BA operates a return flight from a 'prohibited station' if there is no or very low water for the return then? Lastly, please inform us which are these so many airlines that fill jugs from the tanks and serve passengers that way. I do not know of any. I am sure that you'll cite another IAG airline or some sharter outfit that I have never flown on, but I know of no trunk operator that encourages drinking tank water, and many that very clearly state that passengers should not do so. As they provide free drinking water, this really is not an issue. Lastly, how many prohibited stations do you think there are? No, not prohibited from uplifting items as part of the Cruz cheapness phase, where they are not supposed to uplift anything, unless an "emergency" to save money, but specifically JUST water, the amount of destinations can be counted on one hand.
EJetter, you can see from L1705's post above that BA flights regularly leave LHR with less than full tanks. Why don't you inform me how from a St. Petersburg (as that example has already been given) BA operates a flight with an empty or near empty tank. As I asked Confus just now, please tell me what "regular" means, as defined by: ISO 17775? WHO requirements?, EU/98/83/EC? If so we are talking about ONCE A YEAR. So BA does it on average once a quarter, so is safer, right? Except for the fact that no serious non IAG airline encourages its passengers to drink tank water?! Otherwise what you are saying is a bit nonsensical. So BA may test an airports (or rather a suppliers) water at an outstation once a year, and if the water fails they cannot take on water from that station. Who exactly performs this testing? Seriously. 15 or 20 years ago I would have taken that seriously as BA had actual staffs at most of their outstations, I am not talking about just check-in agents, but engineers and all sorts of people. The majority of outstations in Europe now have at best 3 employees in the entire country, and outsource everything imaginable to ground service agents, often the exact same companies which supply the water. Often such water sources are the only game in town or at best part of a "duopoly" that is rarely very competitive, and services many if not dozens of other airlines, the VAST majority of which discourage passengers from drinking tank water.