A recent article on Chow.com identifies a trend in American aviation catering: The surprisingly high demand for ginger ale on America’s planes.
Why ginger ale, and not Coke, 7UP, or Bloody Mary mix? The most popular theory among flight attendants is that it relieves nausea. “If [passengers] have motion sickness, it settles their stomach,” says Elizabeth Rogers, a flight attendant for Mesaba Airlines.
The lack of caffeine may be a further motivating factor, both for people worried about becoming dehydrated during the flight and for those who don’t consume caffeine for health or religious reasons. “Mormons don’t drink caffeine, so they have a tendency to drink ginger ale,” says Gail Phillips, a flight attendant for United Airlines. Then there’s the novelty factor: “They hear someone else order it, and then everyone else wants it too,” says Penny Sandahl, a flight attendant for Mesaba.
And the trend is apparently real. This post from 2007 quotes a study showing that 10% of inflight beverages on American Airlines were ginger ale, vs. 3% of soft drink sales in the overall market. That’s pretty impressive.
I am guilty of feeding into this. If I’m sitting in domestic coach, I am much more likely to order a ginger ale than any other soft drink. And I’m not entirely sure why.
Some of the theories are plausible, but I’m not sure they work for me. Is it the stomach calming effect of ginger? I’m usually pretty mellow in-flight, but perhaps I’ve got some latent anxiety. It’s an unlikely explanation.
Is it the relative novelty of ginger ale? I don’t see ginger ale on a regular basis on menus, or in my cafeteria at work. So perhaps it’s just the “hey, I haven’t thought about ginger ale in a while” effect?
Or was it once based on those reasons, and has now become conditioned behavior? After this many flights, perhaps I have just come to associate air travel with ginger ale.
I still find it amusing that this is being identified as a trend. The trend goes further, at least for me: I rarely drink ginger ale outside of flights in domestic coach. (Flying up front domestically? It’s probably a gin and tonic. International? Depends on the airline, but I tend toward the wine list.)
So, when you’re strapped in, and the plane has risen above 10,000 feet, and the beverage cart comes out, what’s your drink? Ginger ale?… Hit the comments.
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April 26th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
[...] Upgrade: Travel Better throws down with ginger ale. [...]
April 26th, 2010 at 9:17 pm
Not sure about other airlines, but American doesn’t have 7UP, alas; they have Sprite or Sierra Mist instead. I probably choose one of those, or Bloody Mary Mix, or ginger ale, about equally often; the mix more likely for AM flights. Like you, I virtually never have ginger ale otherwise, so I suppose it’s a case of taking the opportunity to drink something different.
April 26th, 2010 at 9:36 pm
Ha! Funny trend. Me: coffee in the a.m., ginger ale in the p.m. Upgraded: coffee in the a.m., gin gin gin in the p.m.
You can’t spell “ginger ale” without “gin.”
April 26th, 2010 at 10:09 pm
I don’t know why either (hmmm) but I’ve been all over this too. It just – seems calming and settling. There isn’t much turbulence most flights so its not that. Its just… calming.
April 26th, 2010 at 10:51 pm
I typically have ginger ale as I don’t want the caffeine typically and cola leaves an aftertaste in the air. Also I’m not a big fan of 7up. Too much salt in tomato juice. No problems with motion sickness so it’s definitely not that.
April 26th, 2010 at 11:13 pm
For me, it’s diet soda without caffeine first (Diet Sprite, Diet 7Up, Sierra Mist Free), then apple or orange juice, water and so on down the list. For my wife, her first drink of choice (that she never drinks on the ground) is a Virgin Mary. Never, ever on the ground…but put her on a plane…it’s like those old coffee commercials: “Funny, Chuck never has a second cup at home!”
April 27th, 2010 at 12:18 am
My regular drink is a ginger ale and burbon — I prefer Makers but no airline stocks it so on United thats a Jim Beam and Ginger. I guess that means I’m feeding into this increased Ginger Ale demand!
April 27th, 2010 at 1:01 am
Twitter Comment
I only drink ginger ale on planes!
April 27th, 2010 at 1:02 am
I am a long time drinker of Ginger Ale, not just on flights, but at home, when I go out to eat, and pretty much everywhere else. I don’t like it mixed with anything, I don’t want the cup, I don’t want any ice, just the can.
Ask my kids my drink of choice and they’ll tell you its Ginger Ale … I like Canada Dry.
My morning pick me up however is not coffee, its Cherry Coke.
Happy Flying!
-Fish
April 27th, 2010 at 1:02 am
Twitter Comment
RT @upgradetravel: The mysterious popularity of ginger ale on airlines [link to post] /now I feel like having some; it’s 2:39 GMT-3
April 27th, 2010 at 1:08 am
It’s a comfort “food.” Flying as a kid was always excited. And we all drank Ginger Ale as a kid. So it’s a perfect fit and makes us happy.
April 27th, 2010 at 2:02 am
Twitter Comment
I only drink ginger ale when flying too.
April 27th, 2010 at 8:17 am
I drink ginger ale at home and in the air. I think I started drinking it at home after getting the desire for it on the airplane, don.t really know why I order in the air I don’t get motion sickness.
April 27th, 2010 at 10:47 am
I contribute to this phenomenon. I never purchase ginger ale at home. Yet my drink of choice when flying, probably 80% of the time, is ginger ale. I can’t explain it – I don’t get airsick, I travel regularly, etc. I just associate it with flying, I guess.
I also drink bloody mary mix on planes (the other 20% of my beverage orders) and would NEVER drink/buy it at home. Again, completely inexplicable.
April 27th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
“Ginger” Ale no longer has real ginger, just the flavor. So any stomach-settling effect is psychosomatic. Some artisanal soda makers sell ginger ale with actual ginger, the way it used to be, and it’s got a bite!
April 27th, 2010 at 12:26 pm
I try not to drink on the plane because I do NOT want to have to use the facilities! When I really need a drink though, my choice is plain old water……unless of course I’m sitting in first class. In that case, I’ll have a gin and tonic please! No ginger ale for me.
April 27th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
[...] I also always drink ginger ale on planes. Funny, that – I thought it was just [...]
April 27th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
On one flight the flight attendant told me that when she runs out of ginger ale she mixes coke and 7up till she gets the color of ginger ale and no one ever notices!!
April 27th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Ginger ale in coach class is a booze substitute, conscious or subconscious. You’d really like an (alcoholic) drink, but either it’s not offered, or you resent having to pay, or you don’t have exact change, or using your credit card is inconvenient, or you don’t want to be seen as a lush by whoever’s in the next seat because it’s too early to be boozing. So what do you choose? Something carbonated, probably, because at least that has an effervescent kick. Not seltzer, because you probably already have water (sparkling water with your still water, Sir?) So it’s soda. What will you choose? Probably not cola, and not any soda that your ten-year-old pulls out of the home refigerator — because, again, what you really want is a **drink** drink, and part of you resents being infantilized with the soft stuff. So Sprite/7Up is out too, ditto anything fruity. Your choice is pretty limited, but hey, your kid doesn’t drink ginger ale, and the color is not too far from beer, or the champagne up front in First, where you wish you were, knocking them back for free….
April 27th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
I love ginger ale and order it a lot on planes and in restaurants, especially when the cola option is canned Coke products which I do not like.
April 27th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
Yup – I almost always order ginger ale. I’m not a fan of drinking alcohol when flying, but I like the feeling of having something a bit special. Ginger ale looks a bit like champaigne so it *feels* special to me. I do drink it regularly at home as well – but along with many other sodas.
April 27th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
I only drink ginger ale on flights, and the primary reason is that it is an excellent compliment to Biscoff cookies.
April 27th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
@justnoah: UAL now offers Maker’s Mark on its flights.
As mentioned in the first comment, I think this trend it much stronger for tomato juice than for ginger ale. I’d say the increase in tomato juice drinking on a plane vs. in normal society is much much greater.
As for reasoning why, I know I’ve had tomato juice on flights where I’m hungry but the airline is only offering beverage service. I figure this is more filling than just a plain old drink.
April 27th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
I am one of those ginger ale drinkers on a plane. I’ve cycled through the other choices, and I can share my mental calculus with you:
Alcohol: Maybe, but I’ve got to be in the mood for it (and to pay for it).
Tomato juice: I used to drink this until I learned a can had as much sodium as you’re supposed to have in a day, so that’s out.
Coke, etc: I’m not a fan of the taste, plus there’s too much sugar.
7up: It would be OK if they had 7up, but most of the time you have to settle for Slice or Sierra Mist, which I’m not a fan of.
So you look at the menu, and the only “safe” choice that exists across all airlines is Ginger Ale. So Ginger Ale it is. It has the added benefit of being non-staining when it dries, so when you bring it to your lips just as major turbulence starts, you have a reasonable chance of still being able to get to your business meeting without having to change first.
When I’m on the ground, my non-alcoholic drink of choice is unsweetened iced tea.
April 27th, 2010 at 5:04 pm
When I fly. it’s pretty evenly divided between Coke (full strength), cranberry juice, or ginger ale. It’d be ginger ale all the time if airlines served Vernor’s, but that’s probably too intense for the general public.
I agree with Chris: Unsweetened iced tea is my land-based choice (brewed, not from a machine)
April 27th, 2010 at 6:47 pm
Ginger ale is supposed to alleviate motion sickness, but it never worked for me.
I don’t get how people can drink alcohol before and/or during a flight. Alcohol already makes you light-headed. Compounded with the bumpiness of a flight, that sounds like a recipe for disaster.
April 27th, 2010 at 7:59 pm
For some reason, I always drink cran-apple juice on flights. I never buy the stuff, but ALWAYS ask for it on flights. I’ve never tried ginger ale on the plane, but I tried eating ginger on a boat since I get seasick frequently. Either it was coincidence, or the ginger actually kept me from getting seasick when I tried it!
April 28th, 2010 at 5:42 am
Normally I go for club soda. You get your bubbles and no other additives.
April 28th, 2010 at 2:42 pm
For me 60% of the time it’s Clamato. When they dont have that, it’s Ginger Ale… Most places only carry diet coke – none of the other diet pops, and Ginger Ale is one of the few non-diet pops that I can stand. Though yes, the “stomach-settling” thought also plays into it.
April 28th, 2010 at 10:39 pm
Weird, but if I order soda, it’s only ginger ale. I never drink a cola. I like ginger ale when I’m really thirsty but do not want the sweetness that a cola has.
April 28th, 2010 at 10:41 pm
After they stopped serving Piedmont Punch, I had to switch to Ginger Ale. It’s still my drink of choice on the plane and I have no idea why either.
April 30th, 2010 at 10:25 am
I do not know the Americans’ consumption habits vis a vis Ginger Ale, but I do know that it is consumed by people, at certain times, because it looks like a beer but wont give them the ‘guilty conscience’ of drinking a beer which contains alcohol!
isaacu
April 30th, 2010 at 5:27 pm
The Ginger Ale seems ‘fancy’ on a plane (I know that is ridiculous) and when you’re flying it just seems like the cool and hip thing to do. I’m guilty of it too.
May 3rd, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Twitter Comment
I love it on planes!
May 3rd, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Twitter Comment
I got hooked on ginger tea in Malaysia… so good!
May 3rd, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Twitter Comment
Ginger settles the stomach.
May 7th, 2010 at 5:47 am
[...] This is one of the planes equipped with wifi from GoGo, but it was never mentioned by the crew and there weren’t any pamphlets in the seat back. How did I even know? There was a sticker on the door. But I wasn’t about to use it, not for an hour flight. I just did some reading and drank my ginger ale. (If you haven’t seen it, read this great piece from Mark at Upgrade:Travel Better on drinking ginger ale on airplanes.) [...]
May 7th, 2010 at 12:06 pm
It seems like it would not be the soothing effects of ginger for nausea and motion sickness as neither Canada Dry or Schweppes seem to have ginger as an ingredient (unless that is what they mean by “natural flavors”). Canada Dry website touts that it contains real ginger – seems like they would put that explicitly in their ingredients.
May 7th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
For me, my drink of choice in the back is cranberry-apple. I’m not a soda-drinker, so those are out. It has a nice flavor and is more interesting then straight apple juice or water. So, that’s what i usually get. It’s not something I ever drink at home, so there’s a novelty factor there too.
May 10th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
I understand that ginger is good for the digestive track, and can help with upset stomachs. So when traveling, the body instinctively seeks for something to keep the stomach from getting queezy.
May 16th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Ginger Ale tastes so good…how can you not order it?! =) cheers!
June 2nd, 2010 at 4:28 pm
I’m a regular Ginger Ale drinker, on and off the plane.
July 11th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
[...] Upgrade Travel Better muses about why people order Gingerale when flying. I haven’t noticed that it’s extraordinarily popular, although I recommend it for quelling a queasy stomach, although I think in some parts of the country it’s a more popular drink than in others. [...]
August 12th, 2010 at 8:03 pm
I’ve noticed that people, including me, order Ginger Ale on flights far more frequently than in restaurants. The same is true of bloody Mary mix or tomato juice.
I think it’s the novelty factor. As for calming the stomach, I have my doubts. There is so little ginger in ginger ale (at least Canada Dry and other major brands) that the ginger effect is basically nil. Any similar carbonated beverage would do the trick for the stomach, I suspect.
December 7th, 2010 at 12:15 am
[...] guess all these are plausible, but I have to agree with this post – none of them seem to fit. Flying has never made me feel sick, so I don’t need to [...]
July 19th, 2011 at 2:44 pm
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