A flight attendant called Betty doesn’t think you should be drinking coffee on airplanes.
Why? Well, according to the American Airlines hostess, the water used in coffee is the same as that of the plane toilets.
The attendant, who, for obvious reasons, asked to remain anonymous, told Vice : “Don’t drink the coffee on airplanes.’
“It’s the same potable [safe to drink] water that goes through the bathroom system.
“We recently had a test for E. coli in our water and it didn’t pass, and then maintenance came on and hit a couple buttons and it passed.
“So, avoid any hot water or tea. Bottled and ice is fine, of course.”
Although Betty paints a foul picture, water on airplanes has to pass regulations and is technically safe to drink. That said, this will no doubt put you off anyway.
easyJet told the Mail that water stored on an aircraft is used for both making hot drinks and for flushing the toilet.
But assured passengers: “There is absolutely no chance of any cross contamination due to the system’s plumbing design.
“This is common place amongst most aircraft manufacturers and airlines. Fresh water is loaded onto the aircraft daily.”
Still, Betty’s not the first to advise against drinking coffee while in the air.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) carried out tests on commercial airlines in 2012, and discovered that 12 per cent of water analysed came out positive for coliform bacteria, which suggests a presence of E.coli.
While a 2016 Reddit thread suggested much the same.
One professed airline empoyee said: “The coffee is absolutely disgusting because the no one washes the container that goes out every morning.
“The station agents who get paid way too little don’t give a s*** about cleaning it. I certainly didn’t when I worked for [airline].
“Also, because we weren’t given the proper supplies to clean it. We pretty much just rinsed it out and dumped coffee into it.”
It’s not like the coffee tastes any good 35,000ft up anyway. The low cabin pressure means that water boils at 90C rather than 100C, which has an effect on flavour.
