Altercation onboard London-Washington United Airlines Flight

[stormtruth]

You can bring screwdrivers and matches but not bottled water?

[P.K.]

Screwdrivers are completley legal to carry on.

You can't take that on to an aeroplane here and that was before these problems!

[GalvestonDuck]

You can bring screwdrivers and matches but not bottled water?

It's free on the plane...who needs to bring it?

[gtalum]

It's free on the plane...who needs to bring it?

I take it you've never been stuck on the tarmac for an hour or two during a ground stop in 100 degree weather.

[GalvestonDuck]

It's free on the plane...who needs to bring it?

I take it you've never been stuck on the tarmac for an hour or two during a ground stop in 100 degree weather.

Nope, I've only been stuck there in freezing weather. But again, my point -- it's free on the plane.

[gtalum]

Nope, I've only been stuck there in freezing weather. But again, my point -- it's free on the plane.

It's not free on the plane when you're in a ground stop and the flight attendants aren't given the go-ahead to get up and do a water service because as the pilots will say, "we could be given a take-off slot at any time and we need to be able to move very quickly". I've been stuck for up to two hours in those conditions. And airplane air conditioners don't work very well in great heat while sitting on the tarmac. if it's 100 degrees outside you're lucky if the AC keeps it below 90 in the plane

It's also not free on the plane when the airlines often don't stock even water for short flights.

[nystate]

It's also not free on the plane when the airlines often don't stock even water for short flights.

Very rare. Even the short 35 minute commuter flights I have been on have had drink service. Heck, Aloha managed to provide all the pax with drinks on a flight that lasted all of 20 minutes!

[GalvestonDuck]

Nope, I've only been stuck there in freezing weather. But again, my point -- it's free on the plane.

It's not free on the plane when you're in a ground stop and the flight attendants aren't given the go-ahead to get up and do a water service because as the pilots will say, "we could be given a take-off slot at any time and we need to be able to move very quickly". I've been stuck for up to two hours in those conditions. And airplane air conditioners don't work very well in great heat while sitting on the tarmac. if it's 100 degrees outside you're lucky if the AC keeps it below 90 in the plane

It's also not free on the plane when the airlines often don't stock even water for short flights.

What airlines do you use?

[gtalum]

Very rare. Even the short 35 minute commuter flights I have been on have had drink service. Heck, Aloha managed to provide all the pax with drinks on a flight that lasted all of 20 minutes!

Not rare. I used to be a real road-warrior, travelling about two weeks a month. I have been on Delta, AA, Northwest, and AirTran flights where no beverages were stocked on < 30 minute scheduled flights. They always have the water from the taps if you're really desperate, but that stuff is nasty and often bacteria-laden.

And as I mentioned, on ground stops when you're sitting on the tarmac they often cannot serve drinks because of the nature of departure slots. They never know when your slot will come until it comes, and they have only about 5 minutes before the slot closes and you go to the back of the line.

Consequently I always bring a liter of water onboard.

[nystate]

Not rare. I used to be a real road-warrior, travelling about two weeks a month. I have been on Delta, AA, Northwest, and AirTran flights where no beverages were stocked on < 30 minute scheduled flights. They always have the water from the taps if you're really desperate, but that stuff is nasty and often bacteria-laden.

And as I mentioned, on ground stops when you're sitting on the tarmac they often cannot serve drinks because of the nature of departure slots. They never know when your slot will come until it comes, and they have only about 5 minutes before the slot closes and you go to the back of the line.

Consequently I always bring a liter of water onboard.

First and business class get drinks before pushback. I guess a possible solution to this problem would be to raise fares a bit so as to extend the pre-departure drink service to all passengers? Or maybe the airlines could stock bottled water and could sell the bottles to passengers before pushback?

Interesting about your experiences, however. I fly frequently (both short and long haul) and have never been denied a drink. I remember on a Continental Express flight I came close, however, as the FA was rather slow and had only served the front portion of the Embraer before we started descent and therefore those in the back were left thirsty.

[wxmann_91]

On my flight (DFW to SAN) we had to pay for drinks.