You may have seen a headline recently warning you to avoid ice cubes on airplanes (or avoid the coffee or water on board). I say: nonsense.
Flight attendant advises not to use ice cubes on board, but I take the risk
On Reddit, a flight attendant warns:
“Be careful not to get ice in your drink. The ice is scooped into a bowl and the bowls are not cleaned very often.”
Is it like this now, or is the ice cream left in a bag and the bag placed in the bowl?
“Every surface on the plane is touched by hundreds of people every day and is not disinfected often. We have no opportunity to wash our hands at all during beverage service.”
Do hundreds of people really touch the ice cream scoop every day? Or is that just an exaggeration?
The New York Post warns:
Even if the ice tray is clean, the ice cubes inside may not be clean. Airplane ice purchased from third-party suppliers is likely to be of dubious quality – because ice is otherwise of dubious quality.
Is it really now?
Forgive my skepticism, but just as I drink airplane coffee made with airplane water, I will not stop using airplane ice to cool my drinks.
I understand that the ice on the plane harbors bacteria. I also understand that the safest thing to do is to just bring your own bottle of water on board (not that the TSA would make that easy…).
But I think life is far too short to worry about what microorganisms are crawling around on my strawberries or in my ice cubes.
I’ve experienced water poisoning before (in Egypt, after accidentally drinking tap water when I thought it was bottled). No, being toilet-bound isn’t great.
But I’ll trust the U.S. supply chains… and I’ll keep using ice (and those dirty lime wedges) in my soda water. That’s a risk I’m willing to take.
And you? Ice cream or no ice cream?
