'Cup of water? You're flying easyJet, that will be £1.70 please'

She was, after all, flying with easyJet, not known for being lavish with the freebies.

But she was shocked when asked to hand over £1.70 - because health and safety rules dictated she needed a special cup with a lid.

"I was astonished," said Mrs Millward, 61, from Bournemouth.

"When the stewardess told me I couldn't believe it. Everybody in our row and in the row ahead heard the explanation and started laughing because it was so daft.

"The attendant was also very rude about it and went off in a bit of a strop."

Mrs Millward's husband John is a doctor and advises her to drink cups of hot water for her upset stomach.

She added: "I have never been charged for hot water on a flight before. I could understand charging a few pence to pay for the cup but not that much. I know these budget airlines have narrow profit margins, but charging £1.70 really is absurd.

"The whole thing is outrageous. The cost is bad enough, but the justification is a disgrace.

"On airlines where they give you free tea and coffee after meals they never put a lid on it, so I can't believe that it's seriously a safety issue."

The £1.70 she was charged is the same as for a cup of tea, coffee or hot chocolate on easyJet flights.

A spokesman for the airline said: "Our own health and safety policy requires that cabin crew put a lid on all hot drinks because we wouldn't like customers spilling it on themselves.

"And because all these cups already have coffee granules or a tea bag in them we have to charge a customer the same price even if they only want hot water.

"If a passenger brings their own container on to a flight we'd be happy to fill it up with hot water for free."

Last November easyJet notched up a 56 per cent jump in annual profits, from £83million to £129million, despite the problems following last summer's terror alert.

But the airline, which last year carried 33million passengers, made a profit of just £3.32 on each fare.

The no-frills carrier said its takings were boosted by squeezing costs and taking more cash from customers in online car hire bookings and sales of inflight products.

It has already triggered controversy this year with its stringent health and safety rules.

In February an easyJet crew ordered a young mother and her two children off a flight because a booster seat she brought for the three-year-old would not fit the plane's seats.

Cabin crew refused an offer made by a woman passenger sitting next to the family to let the youngster sit on her lap during take-off and landing because of child protection fears.

The mother involved, Ann Jordan, 35, said she felt "humiliated" after being hauled off the flight from Bristol to Newcastle in tears.