gms

Except this is how BA describes itself on BA.com!

So it is quite reasonable for passengers and the OP to have the expectation of BA being a full service airline! Maybe BA needs to realign its communications to reflect its current strategy and service offerings!

DYKWIA

This had been done to death many times on here...

Buy on board: Experiences and reactions from BA's shorthaul economy service

gingerlucy

But they will give you a glass of water. It is just that it is tap water, not bottled spring water. What's wrong with tap water? (Honest question - I only really drink tap water unless I'm out and have no choice but to buy bottled, don't see the point of it otherwise.) I am no BA apologist but tap water as the free supply is fine by me.

Lounge tip for next time since you're on the plane: bring an empty refillable bottle and fill it from the big bottles in the lounge. Saves single use plastic waste.

Brisbane Road

There are so many threads along the same lines on this forum but you can’t have it both ways.

I’m no fan of buy on board either but I am a fan of the fact that BAs fares long and short haul are very competitive these days so I’m definitely prepared to forgo a bottle of water for a fare that’s in line with a low cost carrier. It’s particularly attractive because of BAs Exec Club scheme and the fact that Silver (the first real meaningful level), isn’t all that hard to achieve. If you’d like a more premium experience that includes food and drink then buy Club Europe.

mikeyfly

Why keep repeating "full service airline" ?

I have a Ł40 return flight to Malaga in spring, for that fare I am more than happy to not have water for a couple of hours, or buy something / take some drink from the lounge !

Prospero

Top tip ^

And to add, in-flight top-ups are available on request

gms

Probably because that's how BA describes itself!

tuonopepper

Sadly no joke. It always makes me laugh when I fly domestic in the US on AA. As a BA GC holder I get nothing on BA short haul, yet AA give me free food and drink.......a number of people seem to take a beverage and snack to sustain them on the flight from the lounge to 'compensate'.......

babats

Definition of 'full service' from Google - A full service airline typically offers passengers in flight entertainment,checked baggage, meals, beverages and comforts such as blankets and pillows in the ticket price. The seats generally have more recline than a low cost carrier as well as more leg room.

So BA is not typical?

subject2load

skywardhunter

Nothing wrong with tap water, it's the only water I drink, too. The issue is the quality. The tap water at home (at least here in CPT) is of a high quality and very suitable to drinking, whereas there have been concerns about the cleanliness of on-board water storage tanks for years, if not decades. Personally I'm pretty risk-tolerant and drink the tea/coffee onboard which is made from this water. The only airline I fly regularly that is low-cost and doesn't provide free bottled water is Indigo (6E) in India and they have water jugs on their BoB carts and will pour you a free paper cup of water on request as they pass through (or get you one after service has ended, no questions asked). I don't know what the source of the water in the jugs is, but it tastes fine and I've never notably been sick from it. However in India no one drinks tap water and they might in fact use bottled water for those water jugs... either way it sounds like they handle it better than BA..

xPositor

In fact, none of the water onboard will have been boiled at 100c - more likely to have been boiled at 91.6 degrees centigrade/celsius (or 93.6 degrees on a 787). #physics

Andriyko

I don't know how anyone can read about ET and come to the conclusion that BA describes itself as a full service airline in that cabin? If someone has been asleep for the last 2 years and bought a ticket recently without reading about what they're buying (although even during the booking process the need to pay for drinks/meals is highlighted), then I can understand that they're in for a surprise. Otherwise, any reference to 'full service' for ET is unwarranted.

GetSetJetSet

orbitmic

I've long repeated how silly and needlessly aggravating BA's fundamentalist take on BoB is to customers. I'm against BoB in principle for full service airlines, but even if BA wanted to implement it, I do think that free large bottles of still and sparkling water and tea/coffee would make a huge difference in perceptions.

That said, I personally don't understand why we need another thread of that whilst the situation has been what it is for a couple of years now and this is already largely discussed by many of us in the main BoB threads.