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Shocked passenger refuses to pay $3 for water

WOW Air

Welcome onboard! We charge $3 for a bottle of water, okay? (Photo: WOW Air)

Over the last few years, travelers welcomed a new type of airline known as “ultra-low-cost carriers” or, in travel industry parlance, “ULCCs.”

You may have never heard of many of these airlines, but they are a key reason we’ve seen airfares come down this year. When a ULCC enters a market, major airlines usually pay attention and lower fares accordingly.

Domestically, ULCCs include Allegiant, Frontier, and Spirit Airlines. European ULCC’s include include WOW Air and Ryanair. Norwegian Air acts like a ULCC, but considers itself a low-cost, high frills carrier along the lines of JetBlue or Virgin.

Have you flown on an ultra-low-cost carrier yet? What did you think?

While ULCCs have been around a while, I still frequently hear from readers who are shocked SHOCKED to discover all the extra fees that come with those ultra-low fares. This include nearly everything from drinks and meals to carry-on bags and advance seat selection. Some even charge to print a boarding pass if you did not do it at home.

Here’s one of the most recent reader letters. Take a read and let me know what you think. Is it okay for a ULCC to charge for a bottle of water? Please leave your comments below.

Dear Mr. McGinnis,

As an expert traveler, blogger, and columnist who has written extensively about traveling and has been an advisor to frequent travelers at SFGATE, you were the person I thought of, who could address in your columns the risks of flying with a low-cost airline.

I would like to share with you my experience regarding a recent flight that I took on August 23rd on a low-cost carrier called WOW airlines, an Icelandic airline (wowair.com) from San Francisco to Paris. I decided to fly on this airline because the cost of the ticket was a lot cheaper than on other airlines ($760 round trip + $77 to check a bag). At the time,  I was aware that flying with WOW meant that items such as food and beverages were not complimentary. [Currently, WOW Air is promoting fares as low as $440 roundtrip between SFO and Iceland for fall trips. From the east coast, fares are as low as $239 round trip. That is CHEAP!]

I have experienced this when traveling on other low-cost airlines in Europe such as EasyJet. I didn’t mind this, seeing as the duration of the flights were usually short, i.e. no longer than three hours.

However, I had assumed that on longer flights, the airline would provide passengers with food and beverages free of charge. I was stunned when I discovered that on the first leg of the flight from San Francisco to Keflavik, the main airport in Iceland, food and beverages were not complimentary. This was after all an 8-hour flight! I believe that flights that are transatlantic and longer than six hours, should provide at least some food to their passengers.

Wow Air offers roundtrip fares as low as $440 between SFO and Iceland

Wow Air offers roundtrip fares as low as $440 between SFO and Iceland

While I wasn’t thrilled about this, I told myself that this is the way low-cost airlines work. If I pay less, then, this is to be expected.

What I did not expect was having to pay for water on this flight! I had taken a water bottle with me and had drunk all of it. When I asked if I could refill my water bottle, the flight attendant came back with a water bottle and a portable credit card machine. She told me that it cost three dollars to buy the water bottle.

I was shocked. How could they charge for water? It’s a basic need! Plus, the cost was ridiculously high for a water bottle. I told her that I just wanted to fill the bottle with water, but she replied that they only had water bottles.

Related: What’s it like to fly Norwegian Air? 

I refused to pay. This was really beyond the pale. How could a flight not have water readily available to its passengers? What if there was an emergency and a passenger needed to drink water ASAP? Would they charge him/her, too? Because I didn’t want to pay for water, I didn’t drink anything for several hours until I arrived in Paris.

When I came home, I wrote to the airline to inform them that I was very displeased with the fact that they charge for food and beverages, especially water on an 8-hour transatlantic flight. Soon after I wrote them, I looked at reviews of the airline online only to discover that it received scathing reviews due to poor customer service and its tendency to lose luggage, have significant delays, and be unavailable or unhelpful to passengers when they needed information about their flight.

I received yesterday a reply from WOW. Here it is:

Replied on Thursday August 25th:

Dear L,

Thank you for getting in touch with us. We are firm believers in the business model “you pay for what you use”. We are a low-budget airline so all extra services are not included in the ticket price and come for an additional charge.

We believe it’s unfair for our guests to pay for something they have no intention of using. That is why you are allowed to choose what you pay for, you do not pay for anything you do not use.

Feel free to write back should you have any more questions!

Have a nice day.

Kind regards,
Briet
WOW air

I found this answer unacceptable and appalling. As a result, I deemed it important to inform the community of travelers about this airline and its treatment of its passengers. By sharing our stories with travel experts and advisors, we can show that this kind of behavior is unacceptable and, in my view, amoral. I believe that low-cost airlines should be held accountable for the way they operate and treat their passengers.

Thank you very much for having taken the time to read this.

Kind regards,
LG

So readers, what do you think? Is it okay for an ultra-low-cost carrier to charge $3 for a bottle of water? Would you pay for it?

Please leave your comments below.

–-Chris McGinnis

This post originally appeared on Chris’s SFgate blog, The Frequent Travel Adviser. The post has attracted more than 300 comments and was the most popular post on SFgate two days this week. 

(We’re back from summer vacation! In case you missed our other recent round-up posts, here they are: Domestic Routes Roundup | Tips from a Hawaiian Vacation | August’s most important travel news)

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Comments

  2. What a ridiculous, silly post! You get what you pay for! Did you even read the terms and conditions of this airline before purchasing your cheap ticket?

  3. It’s silly though, “It’s unfair to charge our gusts for something they have no intention of using.” Who doesn’t drink water on a long flight? I’ve never heard of this person.

  5. Water is not a right. Nothing is a right, other than the freedoms you have courtesy of your government. It costs airlines a lot to carry water (weight = more fuel = $$$), plus the cost of said water. We have a serious personal responsibility problem in the US – so many quick to blame anyone but themselves. As for “L”, shame on you for not researching WOW’s travel policies before stepping on board. I absolutely respect them saying they won’t fly a ULCC again, but asking for or expecting compensation for something that is not even part of their business model is insane.

  6. No no no! Regulations = higher fares. Educate the traveling public that if they want full service, fly a full service (more expensive) airline. Period.

  7. Of course it’s alright for them to charge for whatever they want. It’s clear on their website that nothing is included, and if you’re shopping purely on price, well…you’re the reason these airlines exist. You want the lowest fare? You got it, and now have the $3 saved for water. I can’t believe this is a complaint, and I have no sympathy for LG.

  10. But Jay, my point is the Club isn’t getting that water for free. They have to pay a city water bill, electric bill (assuming you get it with ice) and taxes which also cover the costs of maintaining a clean water system in the town. Now this water may only cost fractions of a penny and it’s not worth it for the club to get a bad reputation from charging you for it but in the end it’s NOT free for them. Just like it’s not free at a public water fountain – once again it’s being subsidized by tax payers to make it available to everyone.

    Now i don’t ever remember seeing a “don’t drink the sink water” sign in the bathroom on a plane, then again i never have looked for one. But even if that’s the case, your now making my point even more. That water bottle they are refilling your bottle from costs them money. Not just to purchase it but once again in the fuel it takes and the extra space it takes up to store it and fly with it. I don’t know what the numbers are because i’m not in the industry and i have a life. But once again – someone, somewhere figured that to not offer free water was a better decision for their airline, be it in cost savings or the additional revenue gained by charging for it.

    In the end the only “free” water in the world is water that you go down to a freshwater river or lake to collect or collect when it rains/snows. And you are more than welcome to try to drink it as is, but if you want it to be “safe” to drink then i’m willing to bet it will cost you money in materials and work time to get your glass of safe “free” drinking water…

    Water is not a basic human right, it’s a basic human need and the responsibility is on you to go find it for yourself. Or your can work with others in your community to find ways to supply it to your groups (public works dept.) But don’t kid yourself, in some way you are paying for it..

  11. S/he probably didn’t want to buy a bottle of water in Iceland and was too parched to seek out a drinking fountain.

  12. Why not? The airline has a cost involved in providing the water, so that cost should be passed along to those who consume it. If it were “free” to everyone, then the fares wouldn’t be as low.
    On the occasions that I’m driven by price and fly on ULCC, I make certain that I carry two empty 1-liter bottles in my backpack through security and fill them in the airport so that I’m all set on the plane. By planning ahead, my net cost is zero, since the airport doesn’t charge me to use their water fountain.

  13. Amen! I get sick of the so-called rights that everyone thinks they have. Nothing is free, especially when flying on an ULCC. If you’re going to enjoy a $200 fare, don’t whine over $3 water. If they had to supply “free” water to each passenger, your $200 fare wouldn’t be $200. Understand?

  14. Wow LG, really, (no pun intended), why make a fool of yourself complaining about the policy of a budget airline, are you really expecting some compensation? I am so tired of seeing people abuse social media trying to whine out some form of compensation. I just flew with WOW from SFO to Iceland, I bought the ticket at 8am Saturday morning and the flight was at 12:50 the same day, the ticket only cost me $200 (one way) from SFO to Iceland, I was so surprised. I was also pleased to see that they are using brand new Airbus A330’s on this route, the seats were comfortable and plenty of legroom. I was also surprised when I checked in that I could take my medium sized suitcase and laptop on the plane for FREE. So when I looked at the service menu I was not surprised that I had to pay for food and drinks, and I was happy to pay the few dollars for a soda. The only thing that was disappointing was that there was no WiFi on a 7.5 hour flight, with such new planes I was expecting that service and I would have paid $40-50 for WiFi. I will use them again, and I just looked up another flight and I now find a round trip to Iceland for only $379, come on, what other airline is offering such cheap flights to Europe, who cares if you have to shell out a few $$$ for water, grow up people and embrace and support the airlines which are brave to offer the cheap alternative to fly.

  16. I don’t think the traveler was calling them self an expert but calling Chris the expert. Still something does seem fishy with the “no water to Paris” when they stop in Iceland.

  17. I’ll walk (or swim) before I take a a ULCC. Saying that I got caught with my nickers down (I am a very experienced traveler 3 MM) on a one way flight from Denver to ATL on Frontier. I did not realize Frontier was a ULCC as I had flown them several years before. to quote Gomer Pyle “surprise, surprise surprise”! Also, I’m in the water and wastewater industry so I get water. Water should be free on a flight. The risk of an 8 hr. flight not drinking anything can have health effects (dehydration first off). I’m not saying serve Perrie but this is basic. It makes no difference what is stated in policy. The problem we are heading for is the government getting involved setting policy that will become a Pandora’s Box. The saying of Buyer beware always rings true but health concerns on long flights must be considered.

  18. Water is not free to the airline. I would never fly WOW, but the situation is pretty clear. Water=beverage=not free.

  19. Actually anybody should expect ultra-remote airports, inflexibility, rude treatment, bad service and NOTHING for free when booking a LCC flight. All reasons I haven´t made use of LCCs in Europe for about 15 years and I have no plans to do it again. To be direct: charging for one bottle of water is a bit greedy. But sadly reality in Europe.

    In Asia they do it better. I have flown several Asian LCCs within the last years and there you at least get a bottle of water and a small bag of peanuts after boarding.

  20. Trying to be funny and telling me I need to travel more isnt going to change my opinion 🙂 I have seen 3rd world countries charge for the toilet yes….

  21. What I meant was that he described himself as an experienced traveler, but I agree, he didn’t behave as one. I also think there was some confusion in the first paragraph of the OP.

    When I first read “As an expert traveler, blogger, and columnist who has written extensively about traveling and has been an advisor to frequent travelers at SFGATE…,” I thought this was the OP describing himself.

    I had to re-read this portion more than once before I realized that he is complimenting and appealing to Chris McGinnis as “an expert traveler, blogger, and columnist”. I think a few people may have read this incorrectly.

  22. Interesting how you would say he sounds like an experienced traveler. I thought the opposite. Any frequent traveler knows you can go online before the flight and see what offerings are on the particular flight. This person is a fraud and probably flies 2 or 3 times a year.

  23. I call BS to the writer of this letter to you. An “Expert traveler…” would have gone online to see what was offered on each leg of his flight. Being “surprised” that free food and drink were not offered on the transatlantic flight was the FIRST clue that this letter is by a fake person who probably flies once or twice a year. The SECOND clue, and I’m surprised you missed this, was that they didn’t drink anything until they arrived in Paris?????? That makes no sense at all. The letter writer would have had to deplane once in Iceland and before boarding the other flight to Paris. Why would the letter writer deprive themselves of anything to drink while they were in the terminal? I’d expect you to at least read and reason letters before posting them for our comments.

  24. Fuck that and fuck them. Wow Air. So we can’t take water through security, we can buy it at most airports in bottles, just good ole filtered water, nothing more than that, they charge 4 times the price of that of a local supermarket and now these stupid Icelandic bastards want us to pay for their shit water. Screw them. They couldn’t pay me to fly with them. The only thing more confronting than this is the silly Iceland pricks who fly with them. You deserve the shit you get dished out. By the way, remember Iceland? The first country in the world to officially go broke. With an airline like this, stand by for another broken economy. What are these dickheads thinking? Charging for filtered water! Fuck! Then when the country goes broke again because of dickheads like Briet from Wow, they’ll expect the rest of us to bale them out. I’ll help. By charging them for food and water. Bloody Icelandic dickheads, bugger off.

  25. That’s because the person that wrote this was plain stupid or just trying to make a big name for himself. I won’t read anything from this writer, his job is to get the facts and he didn’t. He didn’t do his research to find out that they charge for water, this shouldn’t of surprised a “travel writer”.

  27. Under this thinking you should be able to go into your 7/11 and get free water, right??? Nothing is free and you have to expect to pay for everything on these cheap carriers. If you want free water, pay the extra fare.

  28. I don’t know why this writer is so surprised. You get a super cheap fare and you can’t count on getting anything for free. Only a matter of time before you have to pay to go to the bathroom, it’s going to get this bad.
    Paying for water really isn’t a shock, I was on a Air Legus flight from Dublin to London and they charged for water. Yes this was just an hour flight, not 8 hours but the bottom line is you have to expect to pay for everything on these carriers.
    As much as I hate United, they make them seem like the kindness airline in the world.

    So the bottom line on all this is never, ever fly a ULCC.

  29. When was the last time you saw potable, non-bottled water on an airplane? It doesn’t exist. Bring as many empty plastic, steel or glass water bottles as you want through security and fill up on the other side.

  30. “…water should always be provided for free.” Really? I live in a US city. I pay a monthly water bill. Would you like to explain to my city’s water company why I should not pay their bill?

  31. It’s actually quite simple. I won’t fly with a ULCC. My experiences with Ryanair while living and working in the UK were less than satisfactory, and as a result, I’m willing to pay more for better service. In this case the author should have known better and the author should have done some research before choosing WOW Air. As for the $3 bottle of water, I think it’s entirely fair so long as the airline was clear about the things that were and were not included in his fare.

  32. You are an idiot. When you fly with these airlines, why should anything shock you.
    You get what you pay for you cheapskate.
    Of course they are going to nickel and dime you. Even the lousy US Airlines will give you water.
    You are lucky the plane didn’t crash.
    Next time, fly a US or mainland European mainstream based carrier.

  33. I think the OP might be doing a service to others, but he should hardly be surprised at the actual situation he found himself in. He sounds like an experienced traveler, even with other low-cost and ultra low-cost carriers. Knowing that airlines are charging for everything, he should have known to research the extent of the fees.

  34. As shocking as it may seem to “pay for water”, you really can’t expect free food and drinks on a low cost carrier. Esp if WOW and Norwegian are known for this in advance. You can’t have both a super cheap price plus all the bells and whistles. That is why I’d rather pay more for a better experience on another carrier. The writer should should stop whining and stay at home instead. Don’t feel entitled to everything for free.

  35. Another thing… the real problem here is that this still ends up affecting those of us smart enough to avoid ULCC because they start following suit once enough people start being enticed by their faux fares…

  37. To hell with WOW and all the others. What bothers me is that people are so uneducated that they don’t expect this from the low budget airlines. There is a limit to stinginess and failure to provide water is indeed beyond the pale.

    The only hope I have is that people wise up enough to keep the major airlines from completely falling apart. I flew SAS recently in Europe and sure enough, they’ve fallen to the LCC model and charge for everything. Very sad, and not a good sign…

  38. I don’t think WOW obfuscates their fares, Norwegian certainly doesn’t (because they want to upsell you before you get on board). But really, the $3 and bag fees were still cheaper than the total fair on a different airline, right? So pay for the full service airline, skip the trip to Paris (if you can’t afford the 3 bucks maybe you should hold off on the traveling across the world), or pay for the damn water and be happy you aren’t also subsidizing the beer/wine/soda that the other passengers are paying for like you would be on any legacy carrier.

    People complaining about it being a basic need or right bug me. Yeah, water is a basic human need. But zooming at 600 mph at 30000 feet across the planet isn’t, and having food and water at 30,000 feet isn’t a “right”. Or maybe airlines should add a $5 municipal “water tax” to every ticket to cover requirements they be able to provide free water…

  39. Well, you don’t HAVE to pay for the extras. You could carry two empty 2-liters through security and fill them up at the water fountain. That’s the whole point. You CAN get from the US to Europe for $500 or whatever, although you might not want to. But if I actually was a starving student who wanted to backpack around Europe and camp, I migth sacrifice eating or drinking anything for a few hours.

  40. You get what you pay for. Doing a little research online will tell people WoW and other LCC carriers charge for everything . No need to complain. The OP had a choice to chose a carrier and they chose WOW. Deal with it.

  42. How are his opinions crazy? They don’t have a water tank connection setup on a plane other than in the lavatory (which you are free to use to fill up a water bottle if you want). Even on the airlines that DO serve complimentary drinks, they are pouring the water from a larger bottle of filtered water. This all costs the airline $$. The airlines can afford to sell you these cut rates because they know that a certain number of people will buy those $3 bottles of water and additional services that are built into the cost of the tickets on traditional airlines.

  43. Although I would never fly these sort of airlines, my opinion does not change on what is a very basic human amenity that needs to be provided on all flight regardless of duration and regardless of what you paid to fly. UNLESS OF COURSE THEY CLEARLY STATE THAT NOT EVEN WATER WOULD BE PROVIDED. Let me give you an example.. at a club .. at the fanciest club where a drink is $25 and up and bottled water costs 1/2 that… you can ask and will be provided with tap water FOC from the bar. Water is not negotiable it is not something that can be bargained away..

  44. This is why you don’t ASS-U-ME. This is also why she wasn’t flying SQ cause she is CHEAP. If she was flying SQ, she would’ve paid for the water in the ticket price before she even boarded the plane then she would be complaining about how expensive the flight was. Sometimes you can’t please the world. You get what you paid for.

  45. You are entitled to your crazy opinions, I believe non bottled water and the toilet are basic necessities. I don’t know about the planes you fly in but on SQ the water in the washrooms are clearly labelled as non potable. I had assumed it is the same on all airlines.

  46. But why is it their responsibility to provide it, why is it not yours to have brought it with you? You are correct, it’s a basic human need. But even with the longest flights, you are never going to be stuck on an aircraft for more than 24 hours before being able to walk into a terminal. So technically you are well within your timeframe to no NEED water. Sure you will be thirsty and uncomfortable but it’s not like a being held against your will and dying from dehydration in 3 or so days…

    Now from a business side, of course they should provide it or at least provide some you can purchase (as they did) Once again, why is it ultimately their responsibility to provide it to you? Everything costs money, even water. Just because that vast majority of it is subsidized by government, businesses, or individuals so you can get it free most places, doesn’t mean it’s free overall. People still have to pay water bills, they still have to pay taxes to make sure it can be gathered, cleaned, and shipped to you (pipes) to drink where you are be it a public water fountain or an aircraft. Don’t forget the energy it take to do this, or the staff.

    Now from a private business sense, this is a slight expense that overall isn’t worth loosing customers over. But when you add in the possible costs for airlines to be able to haul and provide drinking water for free, i can understand why so ULCC decide the cost savings is worth the loss in customers/equal or increase in revenue for selling bottles.

    I would argue that bathroom access is a right that an airline must provide, at least on trips over say an hour. But beyond that and a safe flight, i can’t think of anything else that an airline MUST provide.

    One final note, as i mentioned before there was nothing stopping him or you from getting water from the sink in the bathroom (and thus also making the ULCC airline’s argument a bit mute about money savings, if its the same water from the bathroom sink as from the sink in the galley, the slight crew time to get you water shouldn’t matter nor should the savings) Still, while i disagree with their side from a sales/customer service prospective, i do believe it’s their right to not offer it and your responsibility to have brought it in case you wanted a drink.

    The one exception i may give into is for taking medication. Had someone needed a glass for pills and they didn’t bring any i do think providing a cup or water should be required. But once again, we are talking about a small glass of water, not go refill my water bottle of unknown size…And once again it’s not that water was not available it’s that it was going to cost money, which brings me back to – this is the business model and providing free water is not a requirement in a flight since a lack of water for your flight will not kill you (medication taking aside)

  47. I personally find no problem with this. Once again these are low cost a la cart airlines. When you go to a place like walt disney world you are going to be charged for a drink. If you want refill your water bottle you have to do so at a fountain/sink. I’m sure if you brought or asked for a glass you could have gone into the bath room and refilled your bottle.

    In the end this was your fault. 1st you paid for the ticket and im sure on the site it clearly states what your ticket includes (even if you have to look in a FAQ section outside of the booking) 2nd knowing this you should have packed food accordingly. True you probably would have to spend a crazy amount at the terminal gift shop/food store in order to bring liquids on board after having gone through security – but once again there was nothing stopping you from bringing several empty bottles and filling them up with tap water at the terminal.

    i recently flew Norwegian for the first time trans Atlantic. 6 hour flight from the east coast and 11 hours to the west. I paid more for a premium ticket which included meals and drinks (including alcohol) and yet i still brought some extra snacks and a bottle of water, just in case… In the end i didn’t eat/drink those until after the flight, yet i was prepared incase the included food/drinks were not sufficient. As a frequent flyer and travel blogger how is it you didn’t know?

    Yes, maybe every other time you have flown the flight attendants have refilled your bottle for free. Maybe it wasn’t always in line with company policy – water is after all a limited resource on an aircraft and the weight for storage of it directly impacts the burning of fuel and overall cost for a carrier. The 787 has a potable water capacity of 240 gallons and the 777 i believe is in the 300 range. That translates to 2,000-3,000 lbs of weight that gets hauled around every flight. Non-Stop San to Paris is about 5,500 miles, that translates to roughly $4.50-$7 per a gallon of water in fuel cost alone (figured using an average of 80mpg per seat, 200lbs per seat, $1.50-$2.50 per gallon jet fuel cost) All that math was done figuring a non stop flight. if you add a stop, you are now burning even more fuel.

    So when you look at it that way – to fill up your (im guessing) 1 liter water bottle, was already costing the airline at least $1.25 (not even taking into account the added costs of employees to get that water from the airport fill station, to your hands onboard) for tap water.

    So if the airline can cut the amount of water they need to hold each flight, by selling an overpriced bottle of water for $3 I’ll willing to bet they look at it as a more than reasonable compromise. And if you bring your own, the carry on weight is now restricted for most airlines so they can get you there if you get caught with too heavy of a bag.

    I’m not saying that this cost cutting measure is the best way to run an airline. I do also believe there should be certain things that are just done for you in order for you to get my business. But i don’t have any expectations when i look at a sprirt or ryan air ticket (and thus i never fly them) JetBlue and foreign carries will get my business just because i’m not willing to deal with the strict a la cart/regulations of the ULCC.

  48. You guys are crazy if you think anyone should pay for whatever. I expect that water should always be free. The non bottled sort should always be provided for free. For these sort of carriers if they wanna charge for bottled water just like other beverages that is ok too. But water is a basic human need and should always be provided for free. Now if you state clearly that EVEN water is not free, and you provided all forms of water at a cost then it is ok to charge. But telling people only that beverages costs money is not sufficient. Water is not a beverage…it is a necessity.

  49. Exactly! Unfortunately I can’t travel as much as I used to due to health problems, but when I do, I travel first/business because I know what’s included with the fare. If I spend $700 for a first class r/t ticket from ORD to LAS, I expect that a couple of bags will be included, I will be able to use the priority security line, get a larger seat, a meal in flight, etc. I also know that if I book that “steal” fare of $97 on Spirit that I will literally be paying for everything from my carry on or checked bags, to printing my boarding pass, to a water in flight and be jammed in an uncomfortable seat with no legroom. It’s like booking a Motel 6 over a Westin and then complaining that the beds are uncomfortable… You can’t complain about less amenities when you paid for less amenities.

  50. This is why all these blogs should stop immediately with the breathless click-bait headlines of “Fly from New York to (insert barebones-airline destination here) for only $(insert low base fare here but don’t include ALL extras you WILL pay)!!!!!!!”

    Some travel blogs are useful, but you destroy your own credibility when you parrot the WOW, Norwegian Air et al. come-ons here and don’t mention that if you sneeze onboard and require a tissue, it comes with a credit card machine.

    Personally I think this ‘business model’ is yet another way to trick the brainless among us. And they are legion so I expect it to continue and expect even the ‘legacy’ airlines to adopt such a model in order to survive.

  51. Please note that the airline is not CVS. Their costs to bring food and drinks onboard are in fact higher (procurement, security, training, turn time to provision the aircraft, added fuel burn from weight of carts, etc.).

    And I agree with the philosophy of pay for use on a ULCC, especially if they are clear and upfront. While I am not a fan of airlines like Spirit, I respect them for being pretty open and up front about the fees. Then it is my choice whether or not to book them (I choose not to!). Factoring in the $3, the total price is still better. It’s always funny to me how people complain about the $3 water, but the $300 ticket savings (or increase to fly another carrier) isn’t disputed.

    That being said, I do believe on flights over 4 hours, airlines should offer water, at least, complimentary. While people do “vote with their dollars” I think most people don’t have a choice. They want the lowest fare, but there isn’t a way to tell carriers that the fare should include basic conveniences (or legroom anyone?). It’s good to provide this feedback so they can look at changing in the future, but I don’t feel the same righteous indignation of the OP – you get what you pay for – and the airline can offer whatever they want.

  52. Is it okay for an ultra-low-cost carrier to charge $3 for a bottle of water? Absolutely! I’m sorry, but LG made the decision to purchase the ticket on the ULCC, and LG had all of the resources necessary to be able to perform research prior to making the purchase and getting on the plane.
    When I pay $7,000 to sit in First on BA to Europe, I expect water and a full meal to be included. When I pay $200 to hop over in the back on WOW, I pack my own lunch, then don’t complain afterward if I need a refill and have to fork over $3. Not a bad price considering how much I saved on the ticket.

  53. Depending on airline and class of service, all airlines charge extra for food, drinks, luggage, etc. They do this because WE, the customers, keep chasing the cheapest fares and this is how they can make it up and still make money. You ask 10 people what they think is fair to charge for and you get 10 answers. Some think the food should be free, some think drinks should be free, some think it should be free on trips over x hours. Get over it. If you’re cheap, don’t complain about paying $3 for water when you saved $100. And I am pretty sure that in a real emergency, the airline wouldn’t charge for the water.

  54. Now up to 329 comments. About 325 of which are taking the airline’s side and mocking the person who wrote this letter.

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