I'm a flight attendant - we judge passengers who order this sketchy beverage

Daily Mail​

24-04-2025

A flight attendant revealed she 'judges' passengers who order a popular brewed beverage onboard on a plane - as she blasted their selection as 'sketchy'.
Leanna Coy, from New England, who works for an US-based airline, took to TikTok on 21 April to vent her frustrations at travellers who opt for the hot drink.
Posting a video to her page, @leannacoy, the flight attendant took aim at passengers who prefer to order decaffeinated coffee while cruising through the skies.
In an accompanying caption, she wrote: "Adults ordering apple juice? Pop off. Margherita at 10am? Slay. Bloody Mary? Gross, but that's your preference. Decaf AIRPLANE coffee though?"
In the clip, she admitted she came to a realisation that she 'judges' passengers who order decaf coffee, as 'ordering coffee on a plane is little bit sketchy.'
Leanne stressed that she understood a weary flyer or a pilot's need for caffeinated drinks during their travels, as they would likely be tired and requiring an energy boost.
But she added: 'You're telling me you genuinely enjoy the taste of that airplane coffee so much that you're willing to drink it - not out of the necessity for caffeine - just for the flavour itself?'
'Every time somebody asks for it and I tell them that we don't have it, it's never just, "Oh, okay!" it's "Uh, you don't have decaf?!" People get so mad. But I'm doing you a favour - why do you want this airplane coffee so bad?'
In the video's comment section, one person joked, 'I drink coffee. If that's how I go that's how I go!' while another said, 'I'm glad you don't care about adults ordering apple juice. Like... it's just juice.'
But another viewer cautioned: 'I worked in Aerospace for over 30 years. We have techs who repair the coffee makers. I would NOT order coffee. The machines are vile. They are disgusting. Only cleaned when they break.'
Passengers have been previously warned by whistleblowing air hosts to steer clear of both regular and decaf coffee onboard as the water tanks are 'rarely, if ever, cleaned.'
Kevin, a flight attendant for a US airline, cautioned passengers in a TikTok post to avoid ordering the hot drink while on board as the way they are made can be 'extremely unsanitary.'
It came as a response to a pilot who cautioned flyers not to drink the coffee on board as the water tanks are 'rarely, if ever, cleaned'.
'They use this water to make coffee on board. I don't want to think about the mold and bacteria growing in those tanks,' the pilot added.
Kevin was quick to agree and stunned viewers when he blasted the hygiene processes, claiming that coffee pots are taken to the toilets to be emptied - and that the jugs 'get a little close' to the toilet, risking 'backsplash' right into the coffee maker.
He says: 'The fact that the tanks rarely get cleaned that the water is in should be the least of your concern. For me it's always been the way that flight attendants have to clean out coffee pots.
'For whatever reason we're not supposed to empty coffee pots in drains, we're supposed to dump it down a toilet.
'So when you take a coffee pot and dump it in the toilet, in order to not make a huge mess everywhere you kind of have to get a little close to the toilet.
'I imagine that there's some kind of backsplash of particles or bacteria that goes directly into the coffee pot, which gets right back into the coffee maker.
'So unless the airline that you're flying has an espresso maker on the plane, I would not get regular drip coffee.'
Lisa Valente, a nutrition specialist with Healthline, told Fox News Digital that passengers should instead opt for a bottle of water during a flight in order to stay hydrated.
As well as hailing juices and seltzers as prime picks, she added: 'Most people understand that water is the standby choice of air passengers, and many opt to bring their own water bottle on a plane