Flight attendant explains surprising reason why you shouldn't order a Diet Coke on a plane

There’s nothing like sitting back in your plane seat, knowing your out of office is firmly switched on, heading to your holiday and cracking open a cold one.

A crispy cold Diet Coke. You can keep your airport pints; I’m happily taking my cokehead ways on tour.

And just like you might like the novelty of the mini bottles of wine on an airplane of icy cold cans of beer, plenty of us love the mini cans of soft drink you can get from the trolley.

But, in a crushing truth, flight attendants seem to reckon a nice DC or Coke Zero is the worst thing to be ordering while you’re above the clouds.

Yep, apparently there’s a surprising reason why we shouldn’t be indulging in those soft bubbles on board.

Ah, what a view: a crisp DC (Getty Stock)

Evidently with some time on his hands, a flight attendant took to Reddit to offer up users the chance to ask them anything.

He explained while he can’t say what airline he works for or what city, he added that he works for a domestic airline.

While some asked for more situational questions or for particularly wild things he’s seen passengers do, one user wanted to get to the bottom of the soft drink speculation.

“Is it true flight attendants hate requests for Diet Coke more than sodas with sugar in them?” they asked.

And while the flight attendant doesn’t ‘know the science behind it’, he said he’s found that ‘Diet Coke and Coke Zero are just way more fizzy to pour’ than most other drinks.

“And [they] take forever to fizz down while pouring!” he explained.

“I usually just give the passenger the whole can if they ask because I could have served 3 more passengers by [the] time the cup is full.”

It seems they're a pain to pour (Getty Stock)

The asker then suggested that airlines should instead advise passengers to ‘order something else after the safety presentation’.

Hm, I’ll wait those extra seconds for my Diet Coke to be poured I think.

But let’s dig into the science of those bubbles anyway. According to a report from McGill University’s Office for Science and Society, the viscosity levels in diet soft drinks rather than regular ones is higher, and therefore it’s harder for bubbles to form - but it also means they tend to stick around longer.

Diet Coke also uses artificial sweeteners, which diminishes the connections between molecules and lowers the surface tension, making it easier for bubbles to form.

Essentially, science means Diet Coke has fizzier bubbles that last longer – also meaning that they can be a bit of a ball ache for flight attendants to pour.

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