I never seem to have problems getting a bottle of water when asking for one. Hell, I even got Evian a few times.

You've read my mind... A multi-page discussion about whether or not a single bottle of water was offered on a flight. You'd think the bottle was lined with gold.

It is important as having a bottle of water means I don't have to ask for water every time when I finish a cup.

How else are you going to show status to the rest of the plane? :p

As a previous poster pointed out, it just beats having to keep getting glasses of water.

Indeed, for me it is more of a convenience thing. I wouldn't mind if the whole plane all got bottles of water. But i normally drink 2 bottles on the plane to keep hydrated. I don't think the CC would be too happy if i kept calling the call bell to refill that puny cup of water... so it is a win-win.

I think CX should have their own designs on the water instead of the stock standard Evian. Why not put their own logo and have them clearly marked CX DM, CX GO, OWE :) Then we know the pecking order on the plane :)

Got an easier solution. Fiji water for DM/OWE and Evian for GO/OWS. The rest gets tank water.

With the new BoB on BA on short haul routes unless you pay, tank water is exactly what you will get no matter what your status!

In the past, CX only provided bottle water to DM (or DM/GO) for long haul only. KA used to provide water to all Y passengers regardless of status, but I don't think they are doing that anymore.

Actually, it is. Assume each passenger drinks (the equivalent of) 4 bottles @ 0.3L per flight (long haul), that'll be 1.2 kg. For 350 passengers, that'll be (rounded) 400 kg. That water largely doesn't leave the airplane (it does leave the passenger, though ends up in the septic tank, which is only emptied when back on the ground). To haul around 400 kg of water, that'll cost roughly 1200 kg of fuel, which is roughly 1500 liters. With each liter kerosene at around USD 0.80, this costs around USD 1200. So, when you manage to hand out only half (or even 3/4) of the water amount by just dehydrating the passenger, you save quite a lot of money.

To give you an idea, I once saw a profit calculation for Easyjet, given the number of aircraft, the number of legs per day, the reported overall company profit, the average profit per leg came out at around USD 20 (not per passenger, though for the whole aircraft). Long haul flights will undoubtedly have a higher margin per leg, though unlikely being an order of magnitude higher.

So bottom line, by serving small portions water, at the expense of flight attendants running around more often, the company saves quite a lot of money.

Forget about reducing the number of flight attendants, that's already regulated to a minimum amount, based on passenger and door count, ie safety.

Airlines aren't that stupid.....

Given the low margins, I'm surprised they don't just hand out drink mix packets and a glass of water to mix yourself. It would be way cheaper than actually carrying juice and pop.

Coming soon on a LCC near you?

Water drawn from Victoria harbour