British Airways trials removing individual water bottles from flights

Cups of water will be served by cabin crew to economy passengers

British Airways is trialling removing water bottles from in-flight drinks services as part of “efforts to reduce plastic waste”.

Economy passengers on long-haul flights connecting London Heathrow with three US cities – Miami, Boston, and Los Angeles – will instead be served cups of water as part of the new sustainability trial.

Paper cups provided by cabin crew have temporarily replaced individual plastic water bottles on these select routes for travellers in BA’s economy and premium economy cabins.

On a FlyerTalk forum, a passenger flying from Miami to Heathrow said: “There were no bottles of water they could give me as BA is trialling not offering any bottles of water for two weeks now.”

They added that the individual water cuts were “obviously a cost-saving exercise under the guise of saving the polar bears”.

The airline confirmed that a one-week trial reducing single-use plastic onboard is running between 16 and 22 June.

BA’s Club World and first class passengers are not currently impacted by the experimental plastic bottle ban.

A spokesperson for British Airways told The Independent: “This is a one-week trial on three routes as part of efforts to reduce plastic waste. The views of our customers are very important to us, and we’ll be listening very carefully to their feedback.”

In October 2024, BA was accused of scrambling to cut costs by frequent flyers after introducing a new brunch service on long-haul flights.

The extended breakfast for lunch meals are served on flights that depart between 8.30am and 11.29am.

Menu items for the primary inflight meal across seat categories now include cheese frittatas, Belgian waffles and poached eggs on sourdough, rather than a full meal.

Several frequent flyers said they considered the changes “cheap” and a “major downgrade” of the service.

BA said the new brunch service was implemented in line with positive customer feedback on classic brunch dishes and lighter lunch options.

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