I never board a plane unless I have my bottle of water with me and after hearing this news I'm glad! According to a new study done by DietDetective.com and the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center many of the U.S.'s most popular airlines do not provide safe drinking water which in turn can lead to passengers getting sick. The study scored airlines between 0 and 5 with 5 being the best rating on the quality of the airline's water. The scores they were given were based on 10 criteria and if airlines received a score of 3 or higher that means the water on board was safe enough to drink. The scary part of all this is only three of the 11 major airlines sampled achieved this score. According to the study, Alaska Airlines and Allegiant had the safest drinking water and Hawaiian Airlines finished in the #2 spot. Spirit and Jet Blue tied for the lowest score with a 1 out of 5. It is suggested that you don't drink the water on airplanes which includes coffee and tea as well. They're even going as far as suggesting you bring your own hand sanitizer instead of washing your hands in the aircraft bathroom. I always use the bathroom right before I board a plane in hopes I don't have to use the bathroom at all while on the flight!
The reason this is such a big deal is because there's a chance E. coli may be present in the water which if ingested by the passengers and staff can make them really sick. Original article was found at People.com but if you want to see where your favorite airline ranked you can take a look at the full study here.
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