Bottled Water
 

I know that bits and pieces of the bottled-water ban have been discussed
in various threads. I wonder if anyone else would be interested in a thread
specifically about water, possibly addressing the following questions:

1. Are specific airlines/routes reliably providing enough bottled water (now
that we can't bring our own...grr)

2. Has anyone successfully used a doctor's note about dehydration risk to
bring his/her own bottled water on board a plane - and if so, were there
mitigating circumstances like pregnancy/breastfeeding/youth/age/illness?

3. What (if any) are the "real" risks for a healthy non-immuno-compromised
person to drink the holding-tank water? (I.e. if I'm healthy, should I be
requesting the tap water so that sicker people will get the bottled?)

4. What experiences have people had recently around the issue that many
of us faced in the past (which is why we brought our own): flight attendants
being kind of irritable about providing ample quantities of beverages...?

5. Is there any real evidence (or any way to expedite a process) of the
TSA/DHS relaxing the ban on bottled water per se? Particularly because
it seems that a sealed bottle of pure water would be easy enough to inspect
for a false bottom or incorrect clarity or whatever.

Thank you for any discussion on this topic. I am a relatively new poster
here on flyertalk, but I have read for a while and it is a great site.

--LG

I posted a post similar to this on TravelBuzz right after the restrictions were announced and pretty much had no takers. I have to assume on that basis that no one has had a problem getting enough water on a plane.

but
 

the OP does bring up the question of SOURCE of the water being served. I believe that is and will remain a very valid question.

I've seen FA's fill Evian bottles from pitches one time to many to trust the source of their 'bottled' water.

At least for WN - it looks good
 

I've only been on WN since the water ban, but I have ask for a beverage and a can of spring water and gotten it with no attitude. I saw other passengers doing likewise - again with no problems. I have to imagine that the airlines are ready for this - but I have not gone on any really long flights. That will be a big challenge.

I'm going to Fiji in Oct -- I hope this nonsense has subsided by then.

--Sioux

People are just scaling back the amount of water they drink on the planes. For people whose health is "at the margin," this will cause problems. For most people, it is just uncomfortable. I used to drink several liters of water on a typical transcon before the new rules; there's no way any FA will serve me that much water now (it's probably at least a quarter of the water they boarded for the entire flight). So now I fly only when absolutely necessary. And, as previously mentioned, I'm not sure you'd want to drink a few liters on a plane now anyway, since they sometimes pull it out of the onboard tanks which are well-documented to have unsafe levels of e. coli and other critters.

Even Bart has indicated he thinks it's absurd that they're not allowing water purchased in the sterile area to be brought on board, with manufacturer's seal still intact, etc. I'm still waiting to hear from Hawley or Chertoff exactly what risk is posed by such an item. Problem is, they know damn well they have no reason. It's just another case of "abundance of caution" -- which means, we have no freakin' idea what we're doing.

soooo frustrating...
 

Thanks for the replies....

The thing that drives me nuts is that for years the airlines have decimated
their levels of service so that we have to bring our own food, water,
entertainment, pillows, sanitizer, etc.

And now I feel so squeezed the other way. I really hate the idea of being
so *dependent* on the FA's whim as to how hydrated I will be.

In the interest of disclosure, I happen to be pregnant at the moment, and
my water needs are higher than average. But even when not, I would
so much rather be in charge of carrying/using/deciding about my own
water needs instead of being infantilized. Plus, if I could bring my own
drinks, then I wouldn't need to use up the time/resources of FA's who
need to do other presumably-more-important tasks.

Not water-related precisely, but I'm also feeling a bit squeamish about all
the former-Purell-users who will now be inadvertently spreading more
viruses around the rarely-cleaned aircraft.

Yes, I read about Bart's view that sealed water in the sterile area should
be allowed. BTW I also called TSA and told them that this is my opinion,
way back when the restrictions first came out. I emailed AA and asked
about it, but I got a form letter "we always serve a beverage" answer.

The only tiny bit of silver lining is that in packing for my latest trip, I found
that my carry-on was enormously lighter than usual. ;)

I will be going on AA and I will report back about quanitity/attitudes of
bottled water.

--LG

I have flown on AA and AS this week; there are no problems with passengers getting enough to drink.

Article in the WSJ today says that DL has backed off from the extra H2O that they were putting on board because passengers are not consuming any more than they did before.

That seems kind of silly. How can DL to determine that passengers don't want more water a mere 8 days after the TSA ban? Many FF like me have not even flown in those 8 days (I'm not on the road every week, but sometimes it feels like it).

My first trip after the ban is Monday (PDX - EWR on CO; 5.5 hrs of pure joy). I usually bring about 2L of H2O on that flight so I'll be asking for more water to stay well hydrated. I for one do notice the difference when I get dehydrated. Jet lag is a definitely worse and I don't sleep as well the first night, but maybe that's just me.

Of course -- if the FAs don't go through the cabin any more frequently most passengers will just tough it out.

If it's early and it's not apparent, make sure you let the FA know - and good luck :)

still, what is the source of that water?
We do need to know!

Yeah, I think you talking about the water. Does TSA will refines bans bottled water can go through the checkpoint again. I will take eivan into the checkpoint again? How much longer TSA will handling the bottled water will bring back normal again.

I'm hoping that the TSA allows water again (as well as all beverages), but the latest word from Bart is not encouraging. Reading his posts I get the impression that the water ban is here to stay for a while. :(

Chertoff said basically the same thing: until the threat level is reduced, don't expect big changes in the carryon rules. :(

Stupid, stupid.

Allow bottled water sealed in its original fully transparent container.

Or make passengers drink it.

Or put an artificial limit on them. (One bottle per passenger.)

Any of this would allow the TSA to "save face" while still providing for common sense security.