More than half UK international airports lack free drinking water fountains
 

No suprises.

https://www.theguardian.com/environm...ater-fountains

You can always just ask in a bar to fill up your bottle, I've never been refused.
Licensed venues that supply alcohol have a legal obligation to supply drinking water free.

Thank you Alanwsg, very helpful.

Why offer something for free when there's an opportunity for your captive market to make a purchase? I have to admit, it's never crossed my mind before but thinking now, I can't recall airports elsewhere that don't provide drinking fountains. Places such as the U.S., for example, whatever you may think of them, do tend to have a more civic minded approach to their customers.

If i recall correctly, many of the US airports are owned and run by their local State? That is, not commercial?

.....and none of them have a trough for the horses:)

Take your empty water bottle through security. If nowhere else convenient go to the loos and fill up your bottle from the sink faucet. Same water that the drinking fountain, or the bars, would give you.

...or fly with someone who includes water as part of the package. But I agree, British airports are a disgrace. Their pernicious greed starts before you enter. Every single square foot is considered to be an opportunity for them to screw you out of a few quid and these filth don't care how they do it. They will use anti-terrorism legislation to get your car registration so they can fine you for parking in restricted zones. But everywhere is restricted except for their paid car parks. So, if ever you have the chance, make sure you get one in.

The problem is that once airside in the UK, the licensing act doesn't apply so the bars there don't have to comply with the requirement to provide free water.
They may well give water but they are not obligated to do so.

ExXB
The problem with that is that at all the UK airports I can think of, the faucet outputs are mixed (hot and cold stream) so not certain I'd like to drink the warm stuff as it's most likely supplied from a tank. That in addition to them being automatically activated - it's hard enough sometimes getting the things to dispense water to rinse hands and I suspect attempting to fill a water bottle would be quite tedious.

PAXboy
Quite, or by the city or municipality served in the case of a number of large US airports hence my comment about civic mindedness; I'm not a huge fan of most large US airports but there is something about them that makes them a little warmer than most UK ones.

One thing that I find particularly irksome, and especially at LHR is the cash only National Express hotel shuttles; I have occasional need to use airport hotels around Heathrow outside of work and seldom carry cash or change around these days. I can't think of any hotel I have used in recent years elsewhere in the EU that charges for transfer from or to the airport yet I must pay up to GBP7 to travel in a bus that usually makes multiple stops to reach my destination; I'm a local but how many visitors who have just stepped off of an aircraft from outside of the UK have cash to pay for this service? The busses are normally packed so the answer must be that they are much better prepared than I am :(

Heathrow's terminal maps on their website indicate the location of water fountains (usually adjacent to the loos), but in my experience (of T5 at least) they aren't there when you look for them.

One of my pet peeves as well, since they are chuffing expensive.

I know I am going off topic and I'm I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir regarding LHR but if there's more than 2 of you in a group it is often cheaper to book a "private" taxi than use a Hopper ...and of course if you are "brave" enough to use public transport and not encumbered by too much baggage you can easily get to a lot of the LHR hotels for free using the buses that stay within the TfL free travel zone (roughly the "perimeter road", including the Bath Road along the north side, as far east as Harlington corner and then towards Hatton Cross.)

http://www.heathrow.com/file_source/...d_Heathrow.pdf

Its a pet peeve of mine, culprits include LCY & SEN. Totally agree about mixed taps although it takes a while for the water to heat up and you can add a purification tablet (although you are not likely to carry them on a business trip).

No frills carriers try and charge you for water (and try getting served in turbulence).

That said I saw a bottle filling up station in LHR T4. They should be everywhere. Could you include it in an airport operating licence? (OK unlikely.)

STN has one fountain landside and two airside,however would not recommend using horrible taste and lukewarm.

UK tap water is the worst I've ever tasted.

I don't know about free water at drinking fountains, but Dublin has "Plane Water" at €1 per 0.5 litre bottle. It's available at or near information desks and payment is on an honour basis. Apparently 92% of travellers are honourable people.

I presume it has put some pressure on other airport outlets to moderate their prices

Why should you be served in turbulence?

Where the 'War against Terror' meets cut-throat capitalism. Qui bono?

Can't do that if your water bottle is over 100ml. Carry on liquid rules apply to container size. Doesn't say they have to have liquid in them.

Are you certain? An empty container carries no liquid, hence the rules applicable to liquids do not apply. Of course a 250ml bottle with about 10% left will fail, as no one at security could estimate what 10% of 250 is.

P.S we regularly take empty bottles in our hand luggage at Swiss airports and some UK airports. They go through in the carry-on and never heard a peep.