Your 'Easy' Drink Order Is Slowing Down the Entire Plane's Beverage Service
Most frequent flyers — including the TPG team — get pretty excited about inflight beverages, whether it's Brian's go-to Dom Pérignon or the classic ginger ale. But there's one beverage that you might want to reconsider ordering next time the cart parks in your row: Diet Coke.
Apparently, Diet Coke can slow down the process of distributing drinks throughout the entire plane. And it all comes down to carbonation. The cabin pressure of planes increases the carbonation of sodas, forcing flight attendants to wait for the soda to defizz until the cup is filled. A study from Illinois State University has shown that Diet Coke is more carbonated than regular Coke (it has to do with the absence of sugar), which means the soft drink tends to be the biggest culprit.
While it seems like it shouldn't be so much of a nuisance, that extra carbonation can ultimately cut into flight attendants' time. So much so that, according to the blog These Gold Wings, pouring one Diet Coke takes the same amount of time as three other beverages.
Thankfully, though, there's a way for flight attendants to combat the annoyance. Instead of pouring the can into the cup in the typical way, flight attendant Jeff from These Gold Wings found a more efficient way to serve the beverage. In the demonstration video Jeff filmed below, he shows the difference in the speediness of his tactic and waiting out the carbonation from a regular pour.
As shown in the demonstration, Jeff places the cup over top of the can and then turns it a solid 180 degrees, pouring the beverage out of the can without an unnecessary amount of bubbles.
His explanation for why it works so well?
"Diet Coke doesn't come out of the can when flipped upside down until you lift it up and tilt it slightly ... because the air pressure is keeping the Coke in the can," he said.
H/T: Travel + Leisure
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