I’m a flight attendant — here’s why I avoid hotel coffee makers

May 15, 2023

You may want to think twice before making coffee in a hotel room.

A Queens-based flight attendant claims she’s heard the coffee makers in hotels are used to wash underwear.

“I ponder the eternal question: to brew or not to brew the hotel room coffee,” the unidentified flight attendant wrote last week for Bon Appétit’s “The Receipt” series — which features people from different walks of life detailing their weekly food budgets.

She continued: “This is something most flight attendants have strong feelings about, and many senior mamas like to tell horror stories about in-room coffee pots being used to rinse pantyhose, among other things. (This may be an urban legend; I can’t imagine anyone actually DOING it.)”

A person wondered the same thing on Quora.com a year ago, writing, “Do flight attendants still steam their underwear in hotel room coffee pots to clean them or is this just a myth?”

This week, a food diary from a flight attendant went viral after she mentioned an urban legend about people using coffee pots to clean their underwear. — A food diary from a flight attendant has gone viral for mention of an urban legend about people using coffee pots to clean their underwear.

In the answer section of the post, many seemed to think it is indeed an urban legend.

“I have never met one who did,” one person responded.

Another person was more blunt: “I’m sure that at least one freak has done it at some point in time, but no, that’s not a normal practice.”

One person who claimed to have flown for 10 years said they had never heard of this practice.

“It’s much easier to either pack some clean underwear or, in the case that you run out, just wash them in the bathroom sink and let them dry over the heater or by a window,” the person wrote.

"This is something most flight attendants have strong feelings about, and many senior mamas like to tell horror stories about in-room coffee pots being used to rinse pantyhose, among other things," the entry read. — “This is something most flight attendants have strong feelings about, and many senior mamas like to tell horror stories about in-room coffee pots being used to rinse pantyhose, among other things,” the passage read.

However, a post four years ago in the Reddit community “r/lifehacks” claimed the hotel coffee maker is a “hack that flight attendants commonly use to clean their underwear and pantyhose.”

The poster advised putting everything in the pot with some soap and “running [it] for a few cycles.” When it’s done, hang it dry in the bathroom.

“So that’s why my hotel room coffee always has a strange taste,” one person jokingly replied on the thread. “Huh I thought it was sh––y water.”

Another typed, “That’s thoroughly disgusting.”

The post had people questioning the truth behind the myth. — The post had people questioning the veracity of the claims.

Whether this is flight attendant fiction or secret fact, it isn’t the first time concerns have been raised about the hotel coffee pot.

Last year, a hotel housekeeper took to TikTok to share her tips for staying in a hotel room — warning against using the coffee pot.

Some people claim they've heard of the practice, while others aren't buying it. — Some people claim they’ve heard of the practice, while others aren’t buying it.

Should you use the coffee pot in hotel rooms?

“Usually the housekeeper just rinses these things out in the bathroom sink and dries them off with the same rag that they used to clean the rest of the room with,” the TikToker claimed.

Of course, cleanliness depends on the hotel — and perhaps a little bit of luck, too.