Departure Checks, Please . . .
We live in a world of contrasts. I wrote a few days ago about a positive food safety experience while flying on Delta (leaving Milwaukee). I was not so impressed, however, on the return flight home. While weaving our way back to Milwaukee on an American Airlines flight, I was discouraged to discover that the faucets on American's regional jets are now bone dry. Hmmm.
While I understand that the airlines are struggling to stay afloat in this difficult economy, and have started removing certain niceties from their flights, shutting-off the running water in the lavatory strikes me as a bit extreme. Rather than allowing customers to grace their hands with hot, soapy water after using the restroom, American now offers a plastic container full of cold wet-wipes.
The airlines already pack (literally) dozens of adults, children and sometimes pets into a small silver tube for hours at a time. And, although the flight crews on American are by no means experts in food service, they do serve food. The potential for the spread of illness among large groups of people in airports and on airlines is already high, and need not be exemplified because of the decision to turn off water in a bathroom. Water is cheap – health is not.
So, if you’re listening American, please turn the water back on. You will likely save a customer – and, might even save a life.
It never occurred to me to ask if responsibility has a border. Neither, apparently, has it occurred to the flight crews of 
