Never knew this thread turned into a "debate on types of water" thread :confused:

While we're at it....http://youtu.be/JdvJOF-2mm0

Funny enough as a GR even on short haul flights like HKG-NRT or HKG-HND - While I asked for a bottled water (when ISM is confirming special meal option), they handed it out right away...without any covert operations.

Yes, that is part of meal service, not the perks of prestige members.;)

Did get it on my last KA HKG - SHA flight. Slept departure to arrival so was nice to have a few sips when landing.

FWIW, I get offered a bottle of water on most flights as a DM. This is both regional and long haul and I always fly Y.

Really? I fly quite a lot of HND but I don't recall the bottled water being part of the meal.

Sohoboy meant it was part of AmD950's meal service as he/she ordered a special meal option, and the ISM came by to confirm and probably noticed his/her MPC GR status. AmD950 mentioned he/she specify asked for it...and it wasn't pro-actively given by the FA/ISM.

Didn't get it on short-haul Y+
 

I was "upgraded" from Y to Y+ on a BKK-HKG flight, and the FAs were greeting other passengers and giving them bottled water. I didn't get a greeting or water, and I have to admit I felt a little upset about this.

Maybe they were only offering this to DMs, and not to lowly GO (or SL) MPC members.

Which tier are/were you?
If you read above...most member's experiences are bottle water is only offered to DM's travelling in Y, and occasionally to GO's.

I am Gold. I have been given water before, but not often. I can't recall other passengers being offered water and not getting any myself, but I'm sure it happens.

I was always offered bottle water when I flew long haul as a DM. I flew SFO-HKG in Y as a GO two days ago and was offered water. I don't know if that is a standard practice for GO.

The standard practice is.....there is no standard practice ;). Technically GOs and below in Y class are at the discretion of the ISM. Many ISMs are quite good and take care of GOs, but it's technically not required of them, whereas the DM treatment is. Occasionally I see somewhat of a misnomer in this forum that a "soft" benefit of GO is water, greetings, etc. While indeed that's true it happens a lot, technically it's not something the ISMs have to do and rather that's them doing a good job taking care of their elite pax. Whereas with DMs, they do indeed have to do it as per instructions from CX.

I've seen some CX document that goes on to say which elite tier is supposed to get greetings from whom, etc. etc. If I recall the ISM is only required to do greetings of DM pax in Y (GOs are required to be greeted by the ISM if seated in J, and all MPC members are required to be greeted by the ISM if seated in F). The ISM can delegate GO greetings in Y class to the section heads, if they decide to do the greeting at all. It all boils down to really does the ISM decide to proactively take care of the GOs, or does she tell the section heads pre-flight to take care of the GOs (in which case it happens), or does she/he choose to ignore them.

I realize this probably seems a rather trivial thing to be discussing on here. But the fact that there is interpretation on behalf of the ISM - and some ISMs are more thoughtful of GO pax than others (and sometimes elite pax #s are just too high on certain flights) - can lead to some disgruntled GO pax who sometimes get things and sometimes don't.

I've got heaps of stories and anecdotes and suffice to say lots of GOs pulling out "DYKWIA" cards, and overwhelmingly it's because of something they've received on a previous flight, but they didn't get it on the current flight. Which is understandable but it's a pretty amusing list of complaints and stories. Water bottles and greetings are the most common (you'd be surprised at how often pax complain about not getting greeted by the ISM, just the other day I heard about a GO pax berating a FA at the end of a flight for the FA failing to greet the pax "as a valued Gold-card member" or something to that extent, which was amusing to the crew because unbeknownst to the pax she was sitting in a PEY section of almost entirely GO and DM op-ups including her neighbor who was also GO, none of whom said anything when she started ranting), but food/drink from a higher class, blankets/pillows, better peanuts, etc. etc. you name it and it gets complained about. So basically it's somewhat the fault of an inconsistent policy towards GOs, and the fact that some flights have better ISMs (or lighter elite loadings) than others. Not really sure it can be solved seems like CX does a reasonably good job at it. I can't imagine CX takes it seriously when a GO (or even a DM) member complains about not getting greeted or getting wasabi peanuts from J class or whatever.

Flew HKG-PEK very recently and noticed that bottled water was in seat pocket for all classes, for everyone!

Evian?

Is it CX or KA metal?