The price of water in the air

Having just read the article How much for a sip of water on this flight? , I have come to realize that by charging for a sip of water in the air, federal and state safety and health regulations do not apply anymore. This must be similar to playing Black Jack in international waters.

In the early 80s I used to work as a waitress in a Chinese restaurant in lovely Spokane, Washington. I had to learn the ins and outs of the job, which included the mandatory serving of a glass of water to each patron. This practice, unknown in my native Germany, insured the completion of said safety and health regulations. For example, if a patron choked on a piece of food or felt unwell, then water is the best remedy. An irritant can not be washed down with a cup of hot coffee.

This all made sense to me, and I even wished restaurants in Germany would start serving free cold tap water instead of overpriced lukewarm Coke. Back then Coke was definitely more expensive than beer! Also back then, Germans were told that their own tap water was not drinkable. True, but only in some areas of Germany. We never drank tap water, we thought only the poorest of the poor did.

So when my sister came for a visit to Spokane, I took her to the restaurant to show her where I worked. She didn’t realize the glass of water was for drinking. She dipped her fingers in it as she thought – that is how she explained it afterwards – that it was the American way for cleaning your hands before the meal.

Returning to flying and wanting a sip of water — I consider sitting in an aircraft, being served food and beverages by an attendant to be fairly equal to a restaurant on the ground. So, should I choke on a gourmet airline meal while in the air — I would have to bend down low, dig out my wallet, get out my money, turn blue in the face, point to my throat, pay for the purchase, and then get my sip of water.

Can anybody tell me why these safety and health regulations for providing FREE water do not apply to food consumption on an aircraft?

These airlines will start searching for more items they can charge us for. Not to provide them with any ideas – just to forewarn my readers – you might want to get prepared to pay for toilet paper, turning on the overhead vent for 20 minutes in an overheated craft, a flat fee for each call to the attendant (similar to some fancy restaurant in Italy charging a cover charge for just sitting down), anything which requires a return trip (question ON the flight will be: Is your request a single or return?) and more.

Let’s go back to the way it used to be without hidden charges. I remember the days when the airport tax was in proportion to the flight ticket. Nowadays, this tax is up to five times the amount of the ticket price. Of course, this is all about money and of course, the price of natural resources has gone up, but we – the consumers – have not lost our sense for business charges.