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Comment by Rinzler89 | Hacker News Reader

>and every airport I've been to has bottle refill stations after security

Many in Europe do not.

There are bathrooms, and tap water is the most strictly regulated food of all, more than bottled water.

Not all European countries have tap water that’s safe to drink. In Germany you can get away with that, in Spain I wouldn’t risk it.

In most of Spain the tap water is totally safe to drink. I would avoid it in the islands only.

Toilets aren't exactly a good source to refill your water bottle for obvious reasons.

Use the sink instead of the toilet.

I was referring to the bathroom sink. Potential cross-contamination is much higher there than from any other usual tap source, especially in a public bathroom.

This is not actually a thing.

Every airport I've been to personally in Europe does

I’ve been forced to dispose of empty bottles at security because it said 500ml on the side.

Selective enforcement and shifting requirements is one of the major issues with airport security.

Some places force off belts and shoes, and force you to remove laptops and electronics from bags, some force them to be in your bag… it’s very annoying that it’s not consistent across airports. (in europe).

I've been in Gatwick at times before when one queue has a hard arse taking off people's shoes and the next one along doesn't care if you take your liquids out your bag. Not sure why having a set of rules and sticking to them is so difficult.

The woeful inconsistency between airport security checks within the same country and sometimes within the same airport, really lends itself to the theory that it’s all a farce.

Travel time makes a big difference too, e.g. at peak times please keep your shoes on.

So “shoe terrorists” will commit attacks at peak time? (I don’t even know how much botleg water a shoe contain to upset the border control so much).

Good for you but many do not or are out of service (all Schiphol's were the last time I was there).

Good luck at the Hamburg, Germany airport then :D

I have lived in hamburg too and went from there often and I have never found besides going to the toilet a way of getting water.

The bigger joke is that the vending machines in an international airport only accept euro and no credit cards.

Maybe this changed since I have moved from hamburg to Stockholm 2 years ago. But the hamburg airport compared to Arlanda is a joke.

> never found besides going to the toilet a way of getting water

You say that like it's bad? Hamburg tap water was perfectly ok a few years ago when I was there. Has it changed?

The water is fine, but the sink usually isn‘t. The sinks are just as contaminated with bacteria as the toilets themselves —- sinks in really busy restrooms are constantly damp and allow bacteria to grow more than one would expect.

You're not drinking from the sink though, but the tap. The tap is also constantly wet in every house and we're never cleaning inside it. On the other hand, my kitchen is not getting cleaned with heavy antibacterial chemicals multiple times every day.

Are you sure the taps in commercial restrooms would have more bacteria?

> Are you sure the taps in commercial restrooms would have more bacteria?

Some mouth to tap action at the fountains might even the odds abit too.

Head to the right after passing through security and after duty-free. It is at the first toilets on the right

Hamburg is the airport I've used most (I live in Hamburg) and that has bottle refill after security

From one Hamburger to another...just where, please?

I could swear I saw a drinking fountain once, somewhere along that long corridor connecting the gates but I never found it again and, to this date, I've never drank from it. (I mostly fly Eurowings to other Schengen destinations.) If it really exists, I'm sure there is only one such station past security, or maybe one per airport wing.

And look, in a pinch I'm ready to drink tap water from the airport toilet faucets. I'm ready to entrust my life to that dice roll. But, as a matter of human dignity being inviolable and all that, I would much rather shell out money for an expensive bottle of water.

From the airport map on its website: the drinking water dispenser is opposite gate C07. https://www.hamburg-airport.de/en/guide-explore/airport-map

Head to the right after passing through security and after duty-free. It is at the first toilets on the right

How does repeating this make any kind of point? Your anecdotes don't become a general rule across a continent.

For example, most I've been to do not. That doesn't become a rule now, it just disproves the point that hydration stations are the norm.

So why do you insist to dismiss the existence of other airports you've haven't been to that don't have water stations just because it doesn't match your personal experience? Please keep an open mind and arguments in good faith as per HN rules.

Claiming “many” proves nothing. There has been one claim in this thread, that Hamburg does not.

It does. https://www.wateratairports.com/topic/flughafen-hamburg-ham-...

>Claiming “many” proves nothing.

And claiming "every one I've been to" proves what exactly?

>There has been one claim in this thread, that Hamburg does not. It does.

Great, but what does that have to do with my comments? Since I never mentioned Hamburg airport, so why rub that in my face?

I've been to other airports that don't provide water stations which I can talk about, but not Hamburg.

You could name them, but you don’t.

That's why he said Every airport I've *personally* been to in Europe does

What's your problem?

How does his statement ("every airport I've been to in Europe had a water station") refute my statement ("many in Europe do not so you're forced to buy the 4€ water bottles")?

I don't have a problem, but clearly you do so I'm gonna stop replying to you right here. Cheers!

Just because I replied to you doesn't mean I'm trying to refute you. Not everything is a fight. Chill

Have you heard of a bathroom?

Have you heard about having a civil discussion without being snarky for no reason?

Have you seen the dark patterns some airports use like very low taps that don't fit a water bottle under them in the sinks, or hooking up the taps to the warm water lines?

Also, tap water in some countries, while safe to drink, tastes awful, like chlorine, so even if you can get it from the bathroom tap, it's not ideal.

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