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As I said before I wouldn’t drink out a bottle in a restaurant.
My standards.
Fair point, but that isn’t a direct comparison. When, by implication, you are sitting at a table in a restaurant you are receiving individual service.
If a restaurant was offering a limited choice of welcome drinks from a tray at the door, would you hold up people behind you by insisting on something else being brought out? Not exactly the same of course, but there are different ways of looking at it.
There are two aspects to this. Should BA include water (still and sparkling?) with their welcome drinks, and what is reasonable if someone wants something else in the limited time available (regardless of or despite whatever is offered)?
The irony is of course that I’m sure these passengers who won’t drink water out of bottles pre-flight are almost certainly doing so later in the flight, so it seems like something of an affectation to insist on it pre-flight. Perhaps it helps makes people feel important.
Solution:
Carry a packet of tic tacs.
Place two in your hand as you are boarding.
Make a painful expression.
Using your best Monday morning skiving phone call voice, tell the crew that you really need to take your medicine.
Receive glass of water.
Post about it on HfP.
Incur the wrath of JDB.
Smugly tick some boxes.Solution:
Carry a packet of tic tacs.
Place two in your hand as you are boarding.
Make a painful expression.
Using your best Monday morning skiving phone call voice, tell the crew that you really need to take your medicine.
Receive glass of water.
Post about it on HfP.
Incur the wrath of JDB.
Smugly tick some boxes.This made me laugh out loud.
@NealMK – it was never about the water, but about the words and context.
“I said can I have water.
She then said “oh you have a bottle of water right there”
I said oh that’s not the point – any other airline will gladly pour me a glass of water as a welcome drink”I’m seemingly not alone in finding the interaction at best rather gauche. You said you weren’t “being rude or entitled in any way”. I only commented because I read it differently.
You may have read it differently but you were not there. You immediately started throwing accusations of “power trip” and “crying for attention” – while my post was about quality of service and having paid a good amount of money it wasn’t at a standard that’s comparable with any other decent airline.
I guess you got nothing else to do seeing you trying really hard to get the last word.
Solution:
Carry a packet of tic tacs.
Place two in your hand as you are boarding.
Make a painful expression.
Using your best Monday morning skiving phone call voice, tell the crew that you really need to take your medicine.
Receive glass of water.
Post about it on HfP.
Incur the wrath of JDB.
Smugly tick some boxes.Oh I like this.
Someone might literally explode from rage defending his moral high ground …Hmmm I think i’m of the opinion that I dont think it is unreasonable to politely ask for a class of water? particularly when considering the sums of money spent to be travelling in business class.
Though often it isthe way you hold you mouth isn’t it, and I may have perhaps said to the host, “when you have a moment/afterwards could I please get a glass” etc or something to this affect?@NealMK – you and @GG must be so posh only to drink out of BA’s fine crystal! You are sounding rather like Lady Bracknell. A bottle?
Well you being the resident contrarian here always have something to say about other people and throw accusations around about other people’s “attitude” or “poshness”. I guess you are perfect?
I got better things to do on a Saturday than debating with you – accusing me of doing a power play and crying out for attention just speaks volumes of how unhinged you are …
Asking for water then get an eyeroll is not on – I’m paying money for a premium service – if you can accept shitty service good on you, but stop spreading your unhinged comments here.
And to add I wasn’t being rude or entitled in any way, and my communication with the cabin crew was always pleasant. Adding the point any other airline would offer water is a factual statement.
She did bring water in the end.
For the people here saying “oh you didn’t get the menu you deserved it” – are you implying BA should be allowing pettiness? That just says something about your own mentality.
The menu thing happened before the water request.
So she offered you a drink of champagne or orange juice which is the standard choice in CW but you wanted water and she pointed out you already had a bottle which was not to your liking and you had a bit of a go at her – have I got that right?
She then rolled her eyes yet brought a glass of water to you?
Perhaps she wasn’t “rolling her eyes” at you or your precious comments – I mean what a way to start any interaction with the crew looking after you – but was in fact looking up at your seat number to make a mental note of where to bring the glass of water?The irony is of course that I’m sure these passengers who won’t drink water out of bottles pre-flight are almost certainly doing so later in the flight, so it seems like something of an affectation to insist on it pre-flight. Perhaps it helps makes people feel important.
I can’t think of a polite answer.
As I said before I wouldn’t drink out a bottle in a restaurant.
My standards.
Fair point, but that isn’t a direct comparison. When, by implication, you are sitting at a table in a restaurant you are receiving individual service.
If a restaurant was offering a limited choice of welcome drinks from a tray at the door, would you hold up people behind you by insisting on something else being brought out? Not exactly the same of course, but there are different ways of looking at it.
There are two aspects to this. Should BA include water (still and sparkling?) with their welcome drinks, and what is reasonable if someone wants something else in the limited time available (regardless of or despite whatever is offered)?
The comparison with a restaurant is not accurate, it is not to a waiter w
standing at door offering drinks.The comparison should be, you have been seated a waiter asks you if you would like a glass of champagne or orange juice , you politely say I’d like some waterwheel you have time please. A perfectly acceptable not entitled thing to ask
But my precise point is that is not the same, because by the time you are seated at a table in a restaurant you are receiving individual service from the waiter. When you are seated on a plane being offered a welcome drinks from a tray of pre-prepared drinks in the short space of time before departure it is not an individual service.
But my precise point is that is not the same, because by the time you are seated at a table in a restaurant you are receiving individual service from the waiter. When you are seated on a plane being offered a welcome drinks from a tray of pre-prepared drinks in the short space of time before departure it is not an individual service.
Even if the waiter was coming round to all tables with orange and champagne politely asking for water in any decent restaurant that understood hospitality would be met with , “of course”.
Of course in a restaurant that didn’t understand hospitality you’d get this response.
It’s not. About. The water.
A few decades ago crew would not have blinked twice. You would’ve been asked still or sparking, gotten a glass of water tout suite, and a sincere apology such was not part of the offering. For you would’ve been that one unicorn pax a month that would be asking for this. And the well-trained cabin staff would’ve found it funny & exotic, and trumped it up to you perhaps being an influencial executive in the entertainment industry, a lucky Rochdale lottery winner or some other exotic foul. Perhaps they could find out and get an autograph.
Today cabin crew get asked service-disrupting (such as fetching a glass for 10min. before taxiing) questions on a daily basis. It started with tracksuited individuals who spend their entire existence sucking on PET bottles and eating grilled meat patties from cardboard boxes. It would be alright if such was limited to our tracksuited brethren on their annual instagrammable escapade to Ibiza or Dubai. But this out-of-touch entitlement is a virus, that is spreading like wildfire, infecting the mainstream as well.
Again, we have a crisis in the service industry. Nobody, nobody, nobody wants to do these jobs long-term anymore. Open your eyes: 99% of hospitality jobs in London are held by either students or temporary foreign workers under 30. Poles aren’t coming in hordes anymore to make up the difference: the average wage doubled there in the past decade.
We complain about certain legacy carriers not investing in service training, and that is a highly legitimate complaint that should not be sidelined. But in my (very rare) defence of BA: I somewhat understand the “why bother if crew will only stick around for a few years”. I really fear for premium air travel on European legacy carriers. What will it be like two decades from now? Will we need to import obedient Thai & Pinoy crews to massage out all our pedantic wants & needs?
Who is to blame for all of this? We are. And if you can’t see that, you are in denial.
The irony is of course that I’m sure these passengers who won’t drink water out of bottles pre-flight are almost certainly doing so later in the flight, so it seems like something of an affectation to insist on it pre-flight. Perhaps it helps makes people feel important.
There’s a big difference between a glass of ice water with a slice of lemon and a warm water out of a plastic bottle.
Anyway, the point of the bottle of water, as everyone knows, is so you can have immediate access to hydration when you wake up after having had as much free booze in the lounge and on the plane as possible.
Water was a standard offering pre take off for ages ,don’t quite remember when they stopped. Can’t understand why , unless some bright thing who didn’t understand service thought they’ve got a bottle of warm water so why bother. Clearly putting ease of crew above service.
If you join with group one or two have up to half an hour before taxi. So plenty of time to fetch water.
If BA can’t be bothered to provide water, why should we spend our money on premium cabins with BA.
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