For many people, enjoying the in-flight meal and free drinks is a highlight of flying. Personally, I think the meals are far too salty and bound to cause stomach issues. Plus, I follow the Anthony Bourdain school of travel and believe that it’s better to arrive wherever you’re going hungry so you can immediately chow down on delicious local delights.
That being said, I will have a few sparkling waters or some Diet Coke on flights. And while I’m an iced coffee fiend on the ground, I’ve never been one for coffee on planes. Turns out, that’s a good thing since a cabin crew member has warned against getting your caffeine fix this way.
Airplane coffee is “disgusting.”
That’s according to Kevin, a cabin crew member for an undisclosed airline, who posted a TikTok video in response to a Reddit question wanting to know the “dirty little secrets” of staff.
Of all the behind-the-scenes knowledge he likely has, Kevin was most passionate about one thing: not drinking airplane coffee. EVER.
There are a few things to be concerned about here.
@ichbinvin
You might assume that since the water that goes into your plane coffee has been boiled, that negates any nastiness in the water, but that’s not necessarily the case.
“The fact that the tanks rarely get cleaned that the water is in should be the least of your concern,” he explained in the clip.
“For me, it’s always been the way that flight attendants have to clean out coffee pots.”
He went on to say that crew members dump coffee into the toilets, meaning the coffee pots are getting pretty close to where people do their business.
“I imagine that there’s some kind of backsplash of particles, bacteria, whatever that goes directly back into the coffee pot, which gets put right back into the coffee maker,” he said.
That’s not the only gross thing about planes.
Kevin also shared that while the aircraft is cleaned between flights, one thing they don’t focus on sanitizing often is the pockets on the backs of seats.
Kevin says he’s “found so many disgusting things” in them over his time as cabin crew, from used tissues and strands of hair to dirty diapers and old food wrappers. Gross!
Still better than drinking toilet water coffee, I guess.
“Every single day my OCD is justified,” one person wrote in response to Kevin’s clip.
Another traveler, who used to work as a flight attendant, went even further, saying, “I don’t take any drink from the cart especially not with ice. “Ice trays are at exact height of people’s mouths for coughing/sneezing.” Nasty!
