Flight Attendants Don't Want You To Order This Common Beverage On Airplanes

If you've ever been on a flight and suffered from cracked lips, needed lotion because your hands felt like sandpaper, or had a powerful thirst, it's because the air inside a plane has very low humidity. Your first thought is likely to get a drink off the beverage cart when it comes around, and if you're like many passengers, you may be craving a crisp Diet Coke. However, this particular drink has some issues up in the air, and it's one that some flight attendants wish you wouldn't order.

It's not because they're concerned about how much caffeine you're consuming or because of health concerns. The real reason is that it takes a long time for the soda's foam to go down. Watch during your next flight, and you can see it for yourself. The issue is so well known that there are TikTok videos about it, like one from flight attendant Amanda Marie, who goes by @amandamoseguera on the site. In the video, she calls Diet Coke a flight attendant's "worst nightmare."

While you don't have to pick your in-flight beverage to accommodate flight attendants, you might want to rethink it if you want to be helpful. There are a number of other drink options to choose from, including juices, coffee, tea, regular soft drinks, and water. Just make sure you don't ask for water right after boarding or ask flight attendants to fill your personal water bottles; you can fill them up at filling stations or water fountains at the airport after security.

A flight attendant who goes by the name Jet on the blog These Gold Wings explains in a post that the lower air pressure in the cabin means that carbonated beverages foam more in the air, and that Diet Coke is the worst. They write, "I literally have to sit and wait for the bubbles to fall before I can continue pouring." In fact, the flight attendant will sometimes pour drinks for other passengers while the Diet Coke foam is dissipating. However, Jet does have a special technique for pouring it, which involves keeping the can low in the cup to help control the foam and adding ice cubes at the end.

Diet Coke and other diet sodas fizz more than regular sodas on the ground as well. McGill University explained in a 2022 article that the culprit is the artificial sweetener, which acts as a surfactant, creating more foam. It explains, "Diet soda actually has a slightly higher viscosity than sugary soda, which slightly diminishes its fizzing potential. However, a slightly higher viscosity means that when bubbles do form, they're a bit more stable. This explains why Diet Coke not only fizzes more than classic Coke, but the foam also lasts longer!" Add that to the lower pressure, and you'll be waiting a bit for your drink.

Of course, you can still order Diet Coke if you want to. Jet says in the blog post that they don't care what passengers order — flight attendants will pour whatever you like and "won't have a second thought about it." Still, you could skip ordering Diet Coke and purchase a bottle of it in the airport to drink on the plane, or ask for a can and pour it yourself. For more info on the best and worst drink choices, here are more drinks that flight attendants don't want passengers to order.