The Absolute Best Soda To Drink When You're On An Airplane

There are a lot of don'ts when it comes to beverage options on an airplane. Tap water and anything made with tap water — teas, coffees, and the likes — are a huge no-no. According to a report by Insider, flight attendants refuse to drink tap water due to potential bacteria found in water tanks. While alcohol may make time go by a tad quicker on a flight, it can also cause dehydration. So the question then is, what can you drink?

When in doubt while flying on an airplane, consider going for ginger ale. It's a well-known fact that our taste buds tend to change when flying, and what tastes impressively flavorful on the ground can leave much to the imagination for dulled senses at high altitudes. This is because the air inside a plane tends to be much drier and thinner, altering the perception of sweet and salty flavors the most.

A nutritionist tells Travel + Leisure that not all drinks necessarily taste bad with the change in altitude though. Smarter drink choices like ginger ales, which are otherwise too sweet to drink on their own sometimes, become sharper, drier, and a lot more refreshing with the altitude change.

The positive change in flavor may be why ginger ale is a popular drink on airplanes but the fizzy drink also has benefits beyond its taste. Redditors find that ginger ale is one of those drinks that is hardly a go-to in everyday life but happens to be the top dog on an airplane. Calling it "magic sky juice", netizens say that ginger ale helps with nausea and air sickness that some flyers experience, possibly due to the benefits associated with ginger. But ginger, it turns out, is not what helps these symptoms when drinking ginger ale. 

Sherry Ross, M.D., from California-based Providence Saint John's Health Center, tells Woman's Day that some ginger ales are actually quite light on the ginger. Rather, it's the combination of sugar and carbonation that eases nausea and tummy troubles. The only reason ginger ale is thought to be more effective than any other fizzy drink, Ross says, is due to "the power of suggestion...We've learned from our mothers and grandmothers, who brought us ginger ale and chicken-noodle soup when we were sick as kids, that ginger ale works." Besides, ginger ale is one of the easier fizzy drinks to pour on an aircraft, which by default, makes it the best soda to order on an aircraft.