Non Alcoholic Drinks Offerings

[Johnol]

I’m curious what people’s experiences have been with non-alcoholic drink options on board.

It seems to me that airlines go to great lengths (and expense) to source and promote premium alcoholic options, particularly in business and first, yet the non-alcoholic offering is so poor, often still limited to soft drinks, juice, and water.

Fewer people seem to be drinking these days, especially among the younger generations.. I’m wondering whether airlines are actually keeping up with this shift?

From my experiences on Qantas (Business) , Emirates (First) and Singapore (Business) - the offering was pretty poor overall, Singapore being about the best.

Keen to hear what others experiences have been like, or thoughts are, especially on long-haul.

 

[Human]

As a (relatively) light drinker of alcohol I’ve really enjoyed some of the signature non-alcoholic drinks on various long-haul airlines: Finnair’s blueberry juice, Qatar’s karak chai and (especially) their signature mint drink. I’ve also had the pleasure of drinking a whole bottle of JAL’s Queen of Blue Royal Iced Tea in First class.

There are also pretty good non-alcoholic signature drinks on Cathay Pacific and Malaysian Airlines. And one or more of the American Airlines (I forget which ones) apparently have pretty impressive cold brew coffees.

I do, though, recall feeling a little underwhelmed by a mocktail on Emirates First which was a weird combination of mint, cucumber and some other things… didn’t really work. It was definitely a relief to return to the Hennessy Paradis after that!

I knew I’d read this somewhere…

Airlines Serving The Best Non-Alcoholic Drinks, From Rare Tea To Blueberry Juice

While plenty of airlines serve great champagne in first and business class, which airlines serve the best non-alcoholic drinks?

onemileatatime.com

 

[Forg]

It’d be an interesting shift in product presentation, boozle is expensive so they’ve been selling themselves as “premium” by serving something which is known to be expensive. Plenty of airlines serve something with priority of “expensive” over “good” (waves at EK) for this reason.

So … how to present a product as “premium” if the stuff being served isn’t well known for being expensive?

 

[Daver6]

I’m curious what people’s experiences have been with non-alcoholic drink options on board.

It seems to me that airlines go to great lengths (and expense) to source and promote premium alcoholic options, particularly in business and first, yet the non-alcoholic offering is so poor, often still limited to soft drinks, juice, and water.

Fewer people seem to be drinking these days, especially among the younger generations.. I’m wondering whether airlines are actually keeping up with this shift?

From my experiences on Qantas (Business) , Emirates (First) and Singapore (Business) - the offering was pretty poor overall, Singapore being about the best.

Keen to hear what others experiences have been like, or thoughts are, especially on long-haul.

If it makes you feel any better, as a wine nerd, the QF wine offering is pretty terrible. So at least QF is consistent

 

[Scarlett]

As a teetotaller I must remember to ask for the list of ‘premium’ sparkling waters… my go to order in J is always sparkling water: PDB or with the meals.

The raspberry refresher drink on TK is always nice. Have never found a decent coffee on US airlines, but QF do well when they have their nice strong plunger coffee. Oh, and the silver service tea in UL J was excellent.

Remember people, every alcoholic drink is another 25 minutes on the treadmill!

 

[ols]

Remember people, every alcoholic drink is another 25 minutes on the treadmill!

Then I must have have run several ultra marathons

 

[RooFlyer]

QR's lemon-mint drink is always a delicious welcome on board (together with Arabic coffee and date(s).)

On a recent flight to Jeddah, I was encouraged to try their So Jennie non-alcoholic sparkling. I didn't ask for a top-up. There's a range of 'mocktails' but I'm afraid I haven't photographed those pages.

The raspberry drink on TK was memorable (I asked for seconds!).