Nowadays, when we visit airports, we are not allowed to take bottles of water beyond security screening. Any water that is discovered is automatically dumped in a waste bin. You will often see air passengers guzzling from their bottles as they approach security.
It wasn't always this way. The worldwide restrictions were introduced in 2006 and were meant to be a temporary measure following a failed plot to use bottles of soft drinks to bring potentially explosive liquids on board a North American bound plane.
When air passengers reach what is known as "airside", beyond the security screening process, they will often seek out bottles of water from airside businesses and restaurants. These bottles are generally sold at extortionate prices but people need to be hydrated during flights so reluctantly they pay the high prices demanded.
I very much doubt that the expensive airside water bottles are ever tested for possible explosive liquids. I bet they are just brought en masse to the airport businesses in delivery vehicles. It has all become a massive con in my view - fleecing innocent air passengers.
On Monday of this week, I went into a discount shop called "Home Bargains" and bought six 250ml bottles of still water for 79 pence - around $1 US and yet at the airport in Lanzarote just one 250ml bottle cost me 2.75 euros - about £2.50 or $3.25 US. It is all a disgraceful rip off.
It would help if all airports had water fountains in the waiting areas where you could drink to your heart's content and fill up empty plastic bottles. When flying it is so important to be properly hydrated. It could be considered a human right and yet airlines and airport businesses appear to have simply used the worldwide liquid restrictions to make more money for themselves.
If I ruled the world, I would first of all investigate the rationality of maintaining the liquid ban and if it couldn't be lifted I would insist that every air passenger should be given a free bottle of water beyond the airport security hall. This would be paid for by the owners of those irritating duty free shopping malls they make us walk through before every flight.
I never buy bottled water.
ReplyDeleteThe water supply here on Tamborine Mountain is the best ever. We have a bore on this property, (and I don't mean me...but it could apply to my landlord...but that's another story); most properties on the mountain do have their own bores. The mountain aquifer supplies crystal, clear, pure water. We also collect the water that descends most generously from the sky from time to time.
I always have to smother a smile or three when at the supermarket; when I see people going through the check-outs with bottles of water among their purchases. If they read the small print on the labels, they'd probably notice that some of it comes from here...from this very mountain! Water trucks are a frequent sight up here...stealing our water!! Coca Cola do...and I think Castlemaine Perkins Brewery, the makers of XXXX beer are guilty of doing so, as well...transporting our beautiful water to their Brisbane factories.
Even Tamborine Mountain water would not be allowed past airport security!
DeleteI carry an empty water bottle with me through security - no problem. And then I fill it up at a water fountain or from a tap in the bathroom. Works for me - give it a try.
ReplyDeleteYes. I have done this before Mary but many airports do not have water fountains and in Lanzarote people do not drink water from taps as it comes from a desalination plant and has an unpleasant taste.
DeleteFor such a vital need a water there should not be a ransom!
ReplyDeleteRansom - yes that's a good way of looking at it Reddy.
Deletewater fountains should be everywhere! bottled water is an environmental disaster and a giant fraud.
ReplyDeleteHear! Hear! kylie. :)
DeleteMany airports around the world do not have water fountains. I have been to information desks and asked "Where's the water fountain?" only to be told there aren't any. Consequently, bottles of water are the only option.
DeleteI think your first step in particular makes so much sense- is there really still a need for the ban?
ReplyDelete"If I ruled the world" is a game my mother and I play often :D
If I ruled the world I would dye my hair blonde and shape it like a small thatch and I would seek out a surgeon to reduce the size of my hands and I would tweet every day about fake news.
DeletePlease no :)
DeleteFortunately for me I rarely drink water and so the modern obsession with carrying water everywhere you go doesn't affect me. Can never understand why people have to drink water or liquids on a constant basis all day long, it's just a habit that seems to have been drummed into them alongside most of the other so called health fads.
ReplyDeleteIf you are on a flight - even a European flight you might be two hours waiting at the airport and four hours in the sky. That's six hours. You need to hydrate (drink).
DeleteI didn't know this!! That is disgraceful. One of our local airlines give waterbottles out for free, you just have to carry a bottle with their logo on it.I don't mean it to be bottled water, you fill it up yourself. Bottled water is a difficult question, since the water supplies in the world are failing.
ReplyDeleteThe world really have gone awkward, but fighting for water rights is one of the oldest fights, isn't it?? Only we wouldn't have to, while some really do.
Shame on the companies. I hope the money goes to digging wells ...
The local airline you mention deserve more publicity to shame all the airports around the world who continue to rip off air passengers.
DeleteHere is a link to free water airside at some UK airports: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/travel-tips?&_ga=2.81317463.1905991311.1499883260-935170841.1435175427#water
ReplyDeleteThanks for that Tiddles. I shall be flying from Stansted in August so I shall take empty bottles through security.
DeleteI am mystified by this water thing. My Grandsons are worried about us because we do not drink water, always telling us we should drink more.
ReplyDeleteWhen did all of this start? I do not remember being force fed water when we were young.
Maybe Kylie has the right idea when she talks about water fountains, now I do remember them, they used to be everywhere when I was a kid.
I would say bottled water is just another money making scheme for some.
Just my opinion.
Briony
x
It has become a fad hasn't it Briony... but I have always drunk water. I think a pint or two of water a day is good for your innards - no sugar or additives - flushing out your system.
DeleteCrafty Cat has a very good point. I wonder how I got to a healthy "grandmother" age without drinking water all day long! My grandchildren have been brought up to always have a water bottle with them! I only drink water when it is really hot, and normally 4 cups of tea a day seem to do the trick. ( and wine, but I don't think that counts)
ReplyDeleteIf you were on a long flight you would need to drink. Why should you have to pay?
DeleteLike someone else here has said, bottled water is an environmental desaster, creating so much unnecessary road traffic and plastic waste. I nearly always drink water from the tap. In my hometown, the water is constantly checked and has a better quality than some of what is sold for a lot of money in bottles. Here in our cottage in Yorkshire, I drink tap water, too.
ReplyDeleteFor travelling, I use an empty coca-cola bottle over and over again, always making sure I wash it carefully before using it next, and replacing it after a while.
Like you, I think the ban served a purpose originally but should have long been lifted; it is now in place just to make more money.
On long flights to say America or Dubai or India you simply have to drink or you will become ill. They kind of force you to buy expensive water bottles. It is so wrong.
DeleteYour last paragraph is a good idea YP - except I expect that terrorists would eventually find a way round it,
ReplyDeleteRemember that the plot in 2006 was a failed plot and many commentators believe it was not really a feasible plan - just a dumb idea. Now millions of air passengers are affected every day.
DeletegAnd what about piccalilli? My home made mustard relish was viewed with the utmost suspicion when l attempted to board a fight to Inverness. As l clung Mr. Chad like on the desk l cried 'At least have it with your cheddar sandwiches at break time!' 'Oh no madam, that is strictly against the rules!' The batchelor brothers in the far north west of Scotland had to content themselves with only me, when they could have had a much tastier dish!
ReplyDeleteI am sure that you taste better than piccalilli Lettice and I imagine that you are a different colour too! (I hope that doesn't make me racist!)
DeleteWhat is all this on flights, you have to drink, rubbish you're spouting - why? When I travelled to the Caribbean each year for holidays, I've had 13 hr flights with sometimes 4-5 hr delays in the airport, I never drank water, a glass of wine or two. This bottled water lark is a money spinner that's all and I agree with Crafty Cat and Frances. I'm 70 and have one cup of tea for breakfast and that's it other than a beer or glass of wine in the afternoon and I'm fit and healthy and haven't got insides like a dried up prune.
ReplyDeleteYou are a remarkable human being Derek... Kent's own Ironman. We lesser mortals require hydration.
DeleteNo, just a normal human being YP that is not easily hoodwinked by advertising campaigns and food fads.
ReplyDeleteThe main point I was trying to get across was why should travellers have to pay for expensive bottles of water? Once you get airside you are trapped. I have drunk water every day of my life - I am not being hoodwinked.
DeleteVery little is free in life these days YP, if you want something bad enough, as you clearly do, then you have to pay for it, I always expected to pay for my rum and cokes on the flights, although free would of been nice.
ReplyDeleteYes. I pay water rates but not £2.50 for every 250mls.
DeleteI very much like the idea of having water fountains around the airport. Most travelers can experience dehydration with all the walking and luggage dragging.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention long flights and possible delays.
DeleteIt has to be about greed, doesn't it. There are all of those potentially explosive bottles of water sitting right there, ready to blow!! TSA is very silly, trying at best. I usually travel with a foldable camp cup to get water from the hard to find fountains or from the sinks. Air travel is an endurance these days rather than a pleasure. But try to get anywhere without flying! I have tried!
ReplyDeleteGood point Linda Sue! Those abandoned bottles could theoretically explode - killing passengers approaching security. Nobody checks them. It's all a silly game.
DeleteI don't want to be a Troll but can't help it. You public servants expect us to embrace multiculturalism, multi-ability education. MGBGTXVZ folk. Then take responsibility for the society you created. This is the downside get used to it, enjoy your protected state pension. If for medical reasons you need water then write to your MP. Doubt it would help as you helped elect a misogynistic autistic thug. He'd help you but not the female members of your ilk.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea what you are talking about Adrian but it all sounds unpleasantly vitriolic. It's best not to leave comments when you have had a few whiskies. As far as I recall I never helped to elect a "misogynistic autistic thug". The fellow I voted for in Sheffield Hallam has mild cerebral palsy. He is called Jared O'Mara and to the delight of all Labour supporters in our constituency he replaced Nick Clegg.
DeleteI agree completely. This liquids ban is ridiculous. The TSA confiscated my bottle of sunscreen in the airport on the way to Florida even though it was nearly empty. (Which is why I let it go without argument.) The whole thing is so ridiculous. I never thought about the money-making opportunity it affords airport retailers and I'm sure, now that you bring it up, that that's a big part of the story.
ReplyDelete"Ridiculous" is the perfect word to describe this situation.
DeleteSteve.... the same thing ahppened to me going to Arizona. Almost empty bottle of sunscreen and they took it away! STUPID RULE!
DeleteHah! That pressed a lot of buttons in the comment section YP. I'll say no more....
ReplyDeleteAlphie
Yup! I had not anticipated that it would be so controversial. Some have gone straight for the jugular - about the existence of plastic bottles of water - ignoring the airport context.
DeleteI drink plenty of water but I've never been charged for water by an airline in my life (and that includes 'commuting' to New Zealand for 10 years).
ReplyDelete