News & Advice

Why You Shouldn't Order Eggs on a Plane

Or coffee. Or Diet Coke. Sigh.
Cup of coffee on airplane tray table by window

We’ve tackled many questions when it comes to airplane food: Who has the best in-flight meal? Can you ever ask for second helpings? But what about the dishes and drinks you should always avoid, however hungry or thirsty that long-haul flight makes you? We asked some airline insiders what they think you should avoid on a plane—their suggestions include some surprises (Diet Coke?).


Drinking coffee on a plane is one of the most-debated questions when it comes to in-flight F&B. But Bobby Laurie, a travel expert and former flight attendant, has a simple two-part answer: Should you drink it? Probably not. But will it poison you? Also unlikely. “The reason why coffee has such stigma attached to it is that the water is loaded into the airplane into a tank that never actually gets emptied when the aircraft is serviced, so some of the water is constantly recycled [every time]," Laurie says. “That’s why it gets that stale taste that bleeds through in the coffee maker.” (The same problem occurs when making tea).


Commercial pilot Laura Einsetler, aka Captain Laura, steers clear of eggs when she eats onboard since there’s no way for them to be both safe to eat and delicious. “I’ve personally been sick twice from eggs not being cooked well enough,” she says. “If they’re not cooked to a consistency of rubber, you’ll want to pass on them.”

Sweet wine

Once your taste buds have acclimatized to the cabin atmosphere, you’ll find that after-dinner glass of Sauternes or riesling don't taste as rich and sweet as it should; instead, it'll be heavily acidic with a bitter edge, as our taste buds will more quickly and easily pick up the tannins in the sky, says Laurie. Skip it and order a cocktail instead if you need a hit of sugar...

Shaken cocktails

...but not one that requires a shaker or bar-top equipment, which airlines often tout for making a Cosmo or margarita seat-side. Crews hate how much it slows down service, and the service carts aren't configured to keep the shaker and other tools easily at hand (often, they’re stuffed in the ice draw with the beer, so you’ll end up with sticky cans, too). Better to opt for a simple G&T.

Bloody Mary mix

Tomato juice is one of the most popular onboard drinks; the umami factor kicks in at 30,000 feet, activating your taste buds to appreciate savory foods like tomatoes. But don’t succumb to the lure of that Bloody Mary mix: It’s loaded with sodium, which can cause swelling at altitude. It also makes you thirstier, forcing you to drink more water to offset it—cue more bloating, and lots of inconvenient bathroom trips.

Diet Coke

If you want to earn eyerolls from a flight attendant, order a Diet Coke. They say it fizzes more than other beverages, so takes longer to pour and serve. (Even on the ground, diet drinks tend to fizz more than regular sodas.) Even if you brave their disapproval, you might not enjoy that soda anyway. “Some FAs get around it by opening all the cans in the galley but what they don’t realize is that the drinks end up being rather flat when they get to the passengers,” says travel expert Ramsey Qubein.

Food after a delay

When passengers are asked to deplane, say, because of a mechanical problem or weather, the catering carts will remain onboard. “The food is just sitting there, and in the summer, it will be without air conditioning,” warns Laurie, who often opted not to sell fruit and cheese boxes in that scenario. He recalls one flight that took off after an eight-hour delay, where a first class passenger asked about dinner service. “I told him the meal had been cooked on a Sunday, you were supposed to leave on Monday, and now it’s early in the morning on Tuesday, with the food onboard for 10 hours. You decide.” The frequent flier opted to go hungry.

Anything at all

Heather Poole is a veteran flight attendant and author of the memoir Cruising Attitude. She rarely touches any catering cart goodies, preferring instead to pick up something fresh in the terminal. “Airplane food should be your last choice. It’s like astronaut food—but worse, maybe.”