A new report circulating on travel sites and Reddit has bad news for American fliers:
The 2026 Airline Water Study ranks 10 major and 11 regional airlines by the quality of water they provided onboard flights during a three-year study period (October 1, 2022 through September 30, 2025). Each airline was given a “Water Safety Score” (5.00 = highest rating, 0.00 = lowest) based on five weighted criteria, including violations per aircraft, Maximum Contaminant Level violations for E. coli, indicator-positive rates, public notices, and disinfecting and flushing frequency. A score of 3.5 or better indicates that the airline has relatively safe, clean water and earns a Grade A or B.
“Delta Air Lines and Frontier Airlines win the top spots with the safest water in the sky, and Alaska Airlines finishes No. 3,” says Charles Platkin, PhD, JD, MPH, director of the Center for Food as Medicine and Longevity.
The airlines with the worst score are American Airlines and JetBlue, the study shows. “Nearly all regional airlines need to improve their onboard water safety, with the exception of GoJet Airlines,” Platkin says.
The study is based on records submitted to the EPA by the airlines under the Aircraft Drinking Water Rule, as outlined by the author in a lengthy methodology statement.
Still, we don’t know much about the non-profit behind the study. I couldn’t find references to it in any major news publication; the only report it publishes that seems to get any traction is this annual study. It has some legitimate advisors, but its website also has photo after photo of unlabeled AI slop.
Even putting this study aside, travelers regularly wonder where the drinking water and ice comes from on airplanes.
Seems like the perfect place for American’s new Customer Experience unit to go to work. Reassure customers that drinking water comes from a safe source instead of letting reports like these do the work for them. If there is a problem, it’s relatively cheap to solve. There are new champagne and coffee partnerships. Why not the most ubiquitous drink on board as well?
