Some Airplane Water Is Too Unhealthy Even for Hand-Washing

The 2019 Airline Water Study, recently released by airline-water-study-2019/” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow noopener noreferrer”>DietDetective.com and the airline-water-study-2019/” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow noopener noreferrer”>Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center, revealed some shocking results that air travelers should bear in mind aboard their next flight.

The federal government’s Aircraft Drinking Water Rule (ADWR) was implemented back in 2011, regulating requirements for airlines to provide their crew and passengers with safe drinking water. But, the 2019 Airline Water Study found that the Environmental Protection Agency (one of the federal agencies responsible for enforcing the rule) rarely levies penalties upon airlines who violate the ADWR.

Seeking to uncover which airline water is the safest, the study of investigated water provided to passengers aboard 23 separate airlines, ten major and thirteen regional, as reported by the New York Post. Each was issued a “Water Health Score”—5 being the highest and 0 the lowest—based upon ten criteria, including ADWR violations, coliform bacteria sampling reports, testing positive for E. coli, fleet size and the carrier’s cooperativeness in answering water-quality related questions. An overall score of 3 or higher indicates that the airline supplies relatively clean, safe water.

Tying for safest water in the sky among major airlines are Allegiant, both scoring 3.3 out of 5, with Hawaiian Airlines finishing second in the rankings at 3.1. Spirit and JetBlue came in at the bottom of the list, tying with the lowest score of 1. Others encompassed in the rankings are Frontier Airlines: 2.6; Southwest Airlines: 2.4; Delta Air Lines: 1.6; American Airlines: 1.5; and United Airlines: 1.2.

Among regional carriers, Piedmont Airlines, which operates American Eagle flights, is the highest-rated, achieving a score of 4.33. Otherwise, nearly all regional carriers rated with poor Water Health Scores and have received a large number of ADWR violations. Republic Airways, which operates United Express, Delta Connection and American Eagle flights, earned the lowest ranking at 0.44, with ExpressJet claiming the second-worst score of 0.56.

Hunter College NYC and DietDetective.com recommend just playing it safe to avoid possible water-borne illness and never drink any water onboard that isn’t from a sealed bottle, take no coffee or tea, and even avoid washing your hands in the lavatory, but bring hand-sanitizer with you instead.