Originally Posted by
ACYYZ/SD
It's funny you brought this up. Was going to add a PS to my last post. Diet Coke initially got a very sluggish start. Canada Dry Diet Ginger Ale & Diet Sprite were both carried for years and NEVER moved. Because of a finite amount of space drink quantities are continually being adjusted as per drinking trends particular to the time.
Recently flew Swiss J and the standard "pop" offerings were Coke/Coke Zero/Sprite/Tonic Water. That's it.
Could part of the issue be that people assume there is no diet option, so simply didn't ask for it?
I ask for Coke Zero because I know my options are Coke Zero, Diet Coke, Soda water, Sparkling water, or water. If AC started boarding Sprite Zero, how would I ever find out? It's not like the J menu lists non-alcoholic beverage options. I know the new IFE does, but how often is that updated? And am I really expected to go through it every flight?
During EYW, when there were 7 of us flying around on Jazz, we ran into an issue. We all wanted rum. Or rather, 5 of us wanted rum. All 7 wanted Coke Zero. So we started improvising, carrying our own cans on board, which:
1. Prevented us from depleting the Coke Zero supply for 3 segments before they got to row 3 for the first segment.
2. Gave us various 0 calorie 0 carbohydrate mixers that went well with the other liquors on board (p.s. I've become quite the fan of Canadian Club and Diet Gingerale)
I don't know what the solution here is, but I suspect part of the "NEVER moved" problem is that when I order Coke Zero, sometimes they don't hear the "Zero" and pull out regular Coke, and I have to correct them. When someone orders Coke, I've
never heard them ask "regular, Diet, or Zero?" I happen to live with someone who, if he asked for Sprite, would respond to that question with "Zero", but would never think to ask for it up front.