FA tells me Coke Zero is bad for me
Jul 14, 2018, 1:38 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2010
Programs: AA EXP (owe), BA Silver (ows), AB Silver (owr), WN A+/CP, IHG Spire AMB, Avis First
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FA tells me Coke Zero is bad for me
A FA on a JFK-SFO transcon told me Coke Zero is bad for me, and I don't know how to feel about it.
I had one can shortly after takeoff, and I went to the back to ask for another about halfway into the flight.
When the FA came around for the second drink service near the end of the flight, I said that I'd have another can of the same.
He replied - do you really need another one? These things are bad for you! And after a short pause, I said, yes really, I do.
He -poured- some into a cup instead of giving me the can.
I don't want to engage in an OMNI-level discussion about whether diet soda is actually bad for me or not, but honestly I'm a little offended by the FA's comment, and it felt like if I didn't insist, he wouldn't have served me anything! I've debated sending a complaint into AA, which I sort of feel bad for doing, he was a good FA by all other measures. Maybe he meant it humorously, but he also did not give me the can (maybe he was trying to ration it or something). Apart from not serving alcohol to excessively inebriated passengers, I don't think FAs should be judging how much soda people should drink! I also didn't appreciate being shunned as a coke zero addict to the entire cabin
. Anyway, just curious what others think. Yeah, first world problems, right?
I had one can shortly after takeoff, and I went to the back to ask for another about halfway into the flight.
When the FA came around for the second drink service near the end of the flight, I said that I'd have another can of the same.
He replied - do you really need another one? These things are bad for you! And after a short pause, I said, yes really, I do.
He -poured- some into a cup instead of giving me the can.
I don't want to engage in an OMNI-level discussion about whether diet soda is actually bad for me or not, but honestly I'm a little offended by the FA's comment, and it felt like if I didn't insist, he wouldn't have served me anything! I've debated sending a complaint into AA, which I sort of feel bad for doing, he was a good FA by all other measures. Maybe he meant it humorously, but he also did not give me the can (maybe he was trying to ration it or something). Apart from not serving alcohol to excessively inebriated passengers, I don't think FAs should be judging how much soda people should drink! I also didn't appreciate being shunned as a coke zero addict to the entire cabin
. Anyway, just curious what others think. Yeah, first world problems, right?
Last edited by no2chem; Jul 14, 2018 at 2:16 pm
Jul 14, 2018, 1:59 pm
#2
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Tampa, FL
Programs: AAdantage EXP
Posts: 41
A FA on a JFK-SFO transcon told me Coke Zero is bad for me, and I don't know how to feel about it.
I had one can shortly after takeoff, and I went to the back to ask for another about halfway into the flight.
When the FA came around for the second drink service, I said that I'd have another can of the same.
He replied - do you really need another one? These things are bad for you! And after a short pause, I said, yes really, I do.
He -poured- some into a cup instead of giving me the can.
I don't want to engage in an OMNI-level discussion about whether diet soda is actually bad for me or not, but honestly I'm a little offended by the FA's comment, and it felt like if I didn't insist, he wouldn't have served me anything! I've debated sending a complaint into AA, which I sort of feel bad for doing, he was a good FA by all other measures. Maybe he meant it humorously, but he also did not give me the can (maybe he was trying to ration it or something). Apart from not serving alcohol to excessively inebriated passengers, I don't think FAs should be judging how much soda people should drink! Anyway, just curious what others think. Yeah, first world problems, right?
I had one can shortly after takeoff, and I went to the back to ask for another about halfway into the flight.
When the FA came around for the second drink service, I said that I'd have another can of the same.
He replied - do you really need another one? These things are bad for you! And after a short pause, I said, yes really, I do.
He -poured- some into a cup instead of giving me the can.
I don't want to engage in an OMNI-level discussion about whether diet soda is actually bad for me or not, but honestly I'm a little offended by the FA's comment, and it felt like if I didn't insist, he wouldn't have served me anything! I've debated sending a complaint into AA, which I sort of feel bad for doing, he was a good FA by all other measures. Maybe he meant it humorously, but he also did not give me the can (maybe he was trying to ration it or something). Apart from not serving alcohol to excessively inebriated passengers, I don't think FAs should be judging how much soda people should drink! Anyway, just curious what others think. Yeah, first world problems, right?
Maybe the FA was joking around making small talk? Maybe not?
Jul 14, 2018, 2:02 pm
#3
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Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Over the Bay Bridge, CA
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Posts: 38,630
As compared to all the other health food that AA offers on the transcon market, Coke Zero is probably the least of the problems. I'd have probably asked for some rum to neutralize the evil badstuffs in that product. That, and a nice squeeze of lemon for nutrients.
Jul 14, 2018, 2:05 pm
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2010
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Whether or not I should complain to AA for starters. IMO, what I drink is not really much of the FAs business, and maybe I was overinterpeting his reluctance to serve me anything At the same time, I'm not sure if it's really worth complaining about.
Jul 14, 2018, 2:10 pm
#5
Join Date: Oct 2015
Programs: AA: EXP, 1MM Marriott: Ambassador, LTT
Posts: 407
I like Coke Zero and have been known to drink several on TATL flights. Never had an FA tell me that they were bad for me, but I have heard from several FAs that they are relatively popular and that catering had been under provisioning them to the point that they often ran out of Coke Zero on some flights. I even had one FA give me an extra because they were worried they would run out soon.
As far as being told they are bad for you, I guess you could look at this as just someone showing concern for health, which is a nice sentiment, but I wonder if they express the same sentiment every time they serve a regular sugar-based drink or alcohol, I suspect not.
As an aside, I am not aware of any significant peer reviewed medical study which states that Coke Zero or the artificial sweetener it uses, Aspartame, causes adverse medical conditions in people with normal health other than headaches. There have been numerous studies looking to links for cancer and and other maladies and as far as I know none have conclusively shown any adverse consequences for aspartame. Even if they did show some kind of elevated risk, you'd have to weight those risks against the risk of drinking a regular Coke, the sugar in which has conclusively been tied to all kinds of bad health outcomes. Net, net, seems to me that regular Coke is much worse for you than Coke Zero, but I'd be interested to hear what a medical researcher in the field has to say (other than don't drink either one :-))
As far as being told they are bad for you, I guess you could look at this as just someone showing concern for health, which is a nice sentiment, but I wonder if they express the same sentiment every time they serve a regular sugar-based drink or alcohol, I suspect not.
As an aside, I am not aware of any significant peer reviewed medical study which states that Coke Zero or the artificial sweetener it uses, Aspartame, causes adverse medical conditions in people with normal health other than headaches. There have been numerous studies looking to links for cancer and and other maladies and as far as I know none have conclusively shown any adverse consequences for aspartame. Even if they did show some kind of elevated risk, you'd have to weight those risks against the risk of drinking a regular Coke, the sugar in which has conclusively been tied to all kinds of bad health outcomes. Net, net, seems to me that regular Coke is much worse for you than Coke Zero, but I'd be interested to hear what a medical researcher in the field has to say (other than don't drink either one :-))
Jul 14, 2018, 2:20 pm
#7
Join Date: Oct 2015
Programs: AA: EXP, 1MM Marriott: Ambassador, LTT
Posts: 407
I wouldn't complain to AA. You have to address that kind of thing 1 on 1. My guess is if you told the FA it made you feel uncomfortable they would have apologized profusely. Just one of those things.
Jul 14, 2018, 2:23 pm
#10
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Hm, yeah. Seems like one of those things. I guess what would be worth complaining about is insufficient coke zero catering, as you point out
Jul 14, 2018, 2:31 pm
#11
Join Date: Oct 2015
Programs: AA: EXP, 1MM Marriott: Ambassador, LTT
Posts: 407
Now that's a complaint I can get behind 
I wonder what kind of system they have for determining catering levels for each kind of beverage. I can imagine a wildly complex analytics engine that takes actual consumption data by route and translates in into the ideal catering load for each flight (actually a great use case for AI), but I am guessing the reality is a little less complex. Does anyone know if they systemically try to track demand or if not, what kind of feedback mechanisms they use to change the drink load and how often they adjust it?
I wonder what kind of system they have for determining catering levels for each kind of beverage. I can imagine a wildly complex analytics engine that takes actual consumption data by route and translates in into the ideal catering load for each flight (actually a great use case for AI), but I am guessing the reality is a little less complex. Does anyone know if they systemically try to track demand or if not, what kind of feedback mechanisms they use to change the drink load and how often they adjust it?
Jul 14, 2018, 2:40 pm
#13
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2010
Programs: AA EXP (owe), BA Silver (ows), AB Silver (owr), WN A+/CP, IHG Spire AMB, Avis First
Posts: 1,414
Now that's a complaint I can get behind
I wonder what kind of system they have for determining catering levels for each kind of beverage. I can imagine a wildly complex analytics engine that takes actual consumption data by route and translates in into the ideal catering load for each flight (actually a great use case for AI), but I am guessing the reality is a little less complex. Does anyone know if they systemically try to track demand or if not, what kind of feedback mechanisms they use to change the drink load and how often they adjust it?
I wonder what kind of system they have for determining catering levels for each kind of beverage. I can imagine a wildly complex analytics engine that takes actual consumption data by route and translates in into the ideal catering load for each flight (actually a great use case for AI), but I am guessing the reality is a little less complex. Does anyone know if they systemically try to track demand or if not, what kind of feedback mechanisms they use to change the drink load and how often they adjust it?