The end of Highland Spring and BA?
#46
Ambassador: World of Hyatt
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: UK - the nearest airport is named after a motorway !
Posts: 4,235
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B206 Safari/7534.48.3)
I would argue that there's more difference in taste between Highland Spring and Speyside Glenlivet than there is between Grolsch and Heineken, and BA consider those last two to be a 'choice' of beer....
I would argue that there's more difference in taste between Highland Spring and Speyside Glenlivet than there is between Grolsch and Heineken, and BA consider those last two to be a 'choice' of beer....
#47
Join Date: May 2006
Location: GVA
Programs: BA Gold, LH FTL, KL/AF Ivory
Posts: 1,878
I'm sure I've seen reports that bottled water is, hygienically speaking, significantly inferior to tap water, as the latter has to meet much stricter directives.
Obviously only applies to the First World, but even when I'm travelling I will try and drink local bottled water and not water that has been shipped half-way round the world.
Obviously only applies to the First World, but even when I'm travelling I will try and drink local bottled water and not water that has been shipped half-way round the world.
#48
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Edinburgh
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 110
I doubt really that the water is in any sense 'peaty' - it sells itself on the fact that it has 'exceptionally low mineral content' - water that contains any detectable amount of peat (soil in other words) is brown which tends not to be desirable in bottled water. Whisky gets its peatiness from the peat smoke used to dry out the malt - not in any meaningful amount from the water.
#50
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: UK, but sometimes wish it was USA
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 2,388
How do people feel about Fiji Water, often found in hotel rooms for ridiculous prices... I nearly drank it in the Shangri La in Sydney before realising I would need to remortgage my house to pay for it!
#51
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: back to my roots in Scotland!
Programs: Tamsin - what else is there to say?
Posts: 47,843
I love the fact that in Edinburgh, we've trained the restaurants to expect to serve us tap water. For those that want bottled, they have it, but the vast majority of us do drink tap water.
Originally Posted by EuroHannibal
I never knew this parallel universe existed. Can there really be any more a base, homogenous product that the marketeers can slap a fancy name on and create a profit from nothing? This thread is like the H20 equivalent of arguing the relative merits of the Celebrity Big Brother contestants.
I grew up pretty much drinking Highland Spring out of a tap, and love it. The 12 years I spent in Yorkshire were a trial because the water was limey and blah and very often came out the tap not that cold. I used a Britta filter to improve it.
But it's subtle - you've got to be paying attention when you drink it, drink it often and I would imagine if you are a smoker, or your palate is not that great, you might struggle to pick up the differences.
My bottle of choice seems to be Volvic. Not a fan of most of the English waters, although I'll drink them when necessary, I think they are too hard.
I suspect water is a personal choice, driven by what you drank growing up. I am amused though by someone who detects peat in bottled water - the power of suggestion is great. As someone who has drunk very soft, brown highland water, there's not even a hint of peat in that. Probably because the colour comes from the leaching of minerals from the soil, not actually peat.
#53
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: UK
Programs: BA Silver, EK Silver, ABP ;)
Posts: 1,631
#56
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 218
[B]... Speaking of bottled water (longhaul)[/B]
As far as longhaul is concerned, lately, I've noticed 500ml bottles of Crystal Geyser Alpine Spring(US) water being passed around the premium cabins. Maybe I am unaccustomed to the taste, but I didn't fancy it at all. Is there an ongoing supply issue with the Highland Spring/Speyside Glenlivet brand, or has BA contracted a new water supplier?
Bring back our British water please, BA. Cheers!
Bring back our British water please, BA. Cheers!
#57
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 1,866
As far as longhaul is concerned, lately, I've noticed 500ml bottles of Crystal Geyser Alpine Spring(US) water being passed around the premium cabins. Maybe I am unaccustomed to the taste, but I didn't fancy it at all. Is there an ongoing supply issue with the Highland Spring/Speyside Glenlivet brand, or has BA contracted a new water supplier?
Bring back our British water please, BA. Cheers!
Bring back our British water please, BA. Cheers!
#58
Join Date: May 2003
Location: DEL
Programs: Mucci du Miel d'Or
Posts: 2,375
As far as longhaul is concerned, lately, I've noticed 500ml bottles of Crystal Geyser Alpine Spring(US) water being passed around the premium cabins. Maybe I am unaccustomed to the taste, but I didn't fancy it at all. Is there an ongoing supply issue with the Highland Spring/Speyside Glenlivet brand, or has BA contracted a new water supplier?
Bring back our British water please, BA. Cheers!
Bring back our British water please, BA. Cheers!
#59
Moderator: British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jan 2009
Programs: Battleaxe Alliance
Posts: 22,127
The last data-point I have is from 31 December 2012, where Highland Spring water was in abundance in F, both small bottles given to passengers and if I remember correctly, the large bottles from which they pour the water into your glass.
#60
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 218
Also, it was always my understanding that water and many other catering items are supplied by BA to the outstations for a return catering standard. Food for starters and mains are sourced locally (with some exceptions for certain outstations), but dictated by BA.