Water aboard most major airlines is not safe enough to drink or even wash your hands with, new study finds – and Spirit and JetBlue are among the worst offenders
- The shocking discovery was made by Hunter College NYC Food Policy Canter and DietDetective.com, who investigated the water quality of 23 US airlines
- The study, which evaluated 10 major and 13 regional airlines, gave a 0-5 score, with 5 being the best, based on 10 criteria
- And their findings are hard to swallow, with most airlines found to be providing their passengers with unhealthy water
- Serving any unhealthy water violates the federal government’s ADWR, which was implemented in 2011 and requires airlines to provide all on board safe water
- Alaska Airlines and Allegiant received the highest Airline Water Health Score of the major airlines, each sharing a score of 3.3 out of five
- The worst offending airlines were found to be Spirit and JetBlue, who could both only muster an alarming score of one
Most major airlines serve passengers such unsafe water that you shouldn’t even wash your hands with it – let alone drink it, a new study finds.
The shocking discovery was made by Hunter College NYC Food Policy Canter and DietDetective.com, who investigated the water quality of 23 different US airlines.
The study, which evaluated 10 major and 13 regional airlines, gave a 0-5 score, with 5 being the best, based on 10 criteria, including ‘fleet size, Aircraft Drinking Water Rule (ADWR) violations, positive E. coli and coliform water sample reports and cooperation in providing answer to water-quality questions.’
And the results are hard to swallow: with most airlines found to be providing their passengers with unhealthy water.
Most major airlines serve passengers such unsafe water that you shouldn’t even wash your hands with it – let alone drink it, a new study finds
Alaska Airlines and Allegiant received the highest Airline Water Health Score of the major airlines, each sharing a score of 3.3 out of five
Serving any unhealthy water violates the federal government’s ADWR, which was implemented in 2011 and requires airlines to provide all passengers and flight crew with safe drinking water.
Alaska Airlines and Allegiant received the highest Airline Water Health Score of the major airlines, each sharing a score of 3.3 out of five. Hawaiian airlines came close by in second with a ranking of 3.1.
The worst offending airlines were found to be Spirit and JetBlue, who could both only muster an alarming score of one.
The results conclude that nearly all regional airlines, with the exception of Piedmont, have poor scores and several ADWR violations.
The worst offending airlines were found to be Spirit and JetBlue, who could both only muster an alarming score of one
The 2019 Airline Water Study also found that the Environmental Protection Agency – one of the federal agencies responsible for ensuring safe aircraft drinking water– rarely levies fines to airlines in violation of the ADWR.
The study even issued a ‘Shame on You’ Award, which went directly to the EPA for its ‘very poor response time and lack of cooperation answering detailed questions,’ regarding the violations.
For passengers planning in the near future, the study’s authors advise to ‘never drink any water onboard that isn’t in a sealed bottle; do not drink coffee or tea onboard; and do not wash your hands in the bathroom, bring hand-sanitizer with you instead.’