This may sound like an odd question, but I was recently speaking to friend who works as cabin crew for a major airline, and they told me that there used to be an unofficial practice of 'landing drinks'. As I understood it they meant alcoholic drinks served to the crew before or maybe after landing? They implied this was a perk for the crew, but obviously said that such things no longer happen. Were they just pulling my leg or did such things really used to happen?

Shock horror. What a thought, alcohol being served on landing??? I've never heard of such a thing. Perish the thought or in this case the thread:)

Used to have the cabin crew come in on the last sector asking what youd like for a landing drink and then get 4 or 5 in a plastic bag placed in the f/d for after the flight to drink/take home.Was seconded to a European operater at the time but the company staff said it was in fact an unwritten perk.Twas in the mid nineties.

Oooh! This looks like a dangerous thread!
Crewmeal is absolutely right, who would ever do such a thing? And if they did, wouldn't they take it to their grave! :hmm:

Dirty milks all round then folks!

gziffo, that takes me back. :)

A glass of champers after landing, consumed before leaving the aircraft, was considered a damn fine tradition, once upon a time.
Now it would be cause for instant dismissal.

Shame really.

Indeed... it wasn't what you did it was what you got caught doing

Very first flight as new cabin crew in a 'brown' uniform..

Purser comes down back and asks me to close curtain....

That landing at LGW seemed very smooth....

This was a perfectly acceptable thing to do 'in the olden days'. The pilots would be asked what they would like as a landing drink, then this would be served as soon as we were 'on chocks'. On chocks meant off duty, so it was fine.
I don't know of any airline that would condone this practice nowadays but it certainly was a nice way to end the flight.
Just have to wait till we get to the hotel/home now!
Oh, the good old days..........;)

Ah you mean "Chocktails" - always wondered why the milk tasted so awful when I was a Second Officer in 1970!

Shame that the halcyon days of airline flying are now gone!

Lima Deltas??? I can't believe such a thing went on. :ooh:

(G&T, easy on the ice)

When I was a F/o we used to have landing drinks the cabin crew used to ask us what we wanted and it was made up in the clean tea pot usualy orange/ vodka, On this particular day the flight manager ground who was trying to stamp it out came out of the finger when the pax were dissembarking, the news went round like wildfire he then dissapeared out of site. The Capt i was with opened his dv window and through his drink out unfortunately the said manager was standing just under the capt's dv window & it went over the back of his suit and head very sticky. He then came up the stairs of the A/C and we all denied anything about landing drinks.

Chug a Lug:D:=:=:=

In the good old days nobody ever had a drink on the bus to the hotel either!!!

I heard stories of cabin crew brewing sangria in the hot cups and chilling it and putting it in empty squash bottles to be consumed on the way to hotels - but I don't believe them!


I also heard rumours, unfounded, of crew filling empty wine bags from 3 litre boxes with Chateau Mouton Rothschild and consuming it at parties.


It is also rumoured that various empty containers were filled with premium

spirits from the First Class bar and consumed later - but I don't Believe that either.

Who starts these stories?

Nothing wrong with drinks after shutting down the engines. One is still on duty for 30 minutes from chocks on but so what? Our great and good legislature is infamous for working after rather more than just the one drink and, recently, for outrageous alcohol-fuelled behavior.

Back in military days, in France, we'd have a glass of wine (just one) with lunch whilst the aircraft was being refuelled :ok:

Interesting first post...........;)

We used to do landing drinks on shutdown, back in the day. A very civilised practise.

It all came to a rapid end one day, when shortly after chocks-in Ops contacted the Captain to advise that the aircraft was required urgently elsewhere, and that a no-notice Ferry sector was about to take place.

Except, of course, it wasn't...

Oh Dear!

I have never witnessed nor taken part in post flight drinks on the crew bus heading back to the hotel after turnarounds flight BKK-SIN-BKK back when my former airline didn't limit its visits to BKK to a 24 hour layover. Nevertheless I must say that the orange juice we used to drink on the crew bus was somewhat fizzy and would make the crew laugh after a few glasses,...Must have been the effect of cabin pressure :-):p

In my first airline (back in the `80`s), it was the duty of the most junior crew member to ask ALL of the crew what landing drink they wanted.
The airline covered the cost but we were advised that should customs appear we would have to pay the duty.
The said post flight refreshment was delivered/consumed upon taxi-ing..... and on some "london" airport taxi-ways involved a certain amount of back and forth swaying to prevent spillage of the said Imbibment.

Also another way was to "pool" the said refreshment into a recepticle normally utilised for the on board purchase of duty/tax free items, which was duly hung on the door handle of the inbound crew room for us to Dip into.... unless of course Customs intercepted us walking across the Apron with said bag, which strangely developed weak handles........:):):):)

I remember the G and T’s arriving on the 727 (so no guesses which airline then) flight deck as the engines stopped in BHX one afternoon in the mid 1980’s.

Soon after the passenger door light illuminated, a customs officer arrived on the flight deck and demanded that we pay the duty on the said gin.

My captain shouted immediately back at the said customs officer, that we were in the process of completing the shut down checks and if he did not leave the flight deck at once then he would be reported to the CAA as a serious flight safety hazard.

The customs officer turned and left the flight deck, and the captain said ‘right lads, I reckon we have 10 secs to down the drink or pay the duty!’

3 landing drinks downed in 3 gulps and the flight deck door burst open to reveal one very p*****d off customs official, looking at 3 empty glasses.

Brilliant

Many moons ago, used to operate into LHR, in corporate aircraft.

Customs would attend to the aircraft on stand, a post flight drink, with customs assistance was completed as the C208 was signed.

Many happy memories of the drive back home, for crew and customs also...

when I worked for Monarch many years ago drinks on landing was the norm I was the one who did not drink happy days.

Ahhh. Landing drinks and 'bus juice' for the bumpy ride to the Whitesands. Those were the good old days. Set you up well for the week ahead.... :ok:

Is it a slow news day in the office Gziffo? Not much else going on you can report on?? :cool:

I think the practices of london office workers on Friday evenings in the office are of more concern to joe public than a now defuct practice of the nineties and before. I remeber a certain channel 4 documentary.........need i say more.

Some time ago channel 4 'outed' a crew for night stop practices. The whistle blower was a disgruntled stewardess. I believe that's when the fun in flying stopped.

BA suspends 11 pilots accused of drinking before flights | UK news | The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2000/oct/05/keithharper)

Enjoyed the 'Brown Cows" at the end of a "Classic 747' duty many years ago but our outfit is likely to and has thrown a random drug and alcohol test at you on arrival so not worth the next 15 years salary and super.
We now have juniors telling tales on their senior workmates to help their career progression so you can't trust anyone these days, and that's not even to do with drinking, they'll pimp on you for anything that will help them get onside with management.
It's all about me these days!!!

A Daily Mail journo? I'm laughing out loud. But I can understand your suspiscions, it was a bit of a provacative first post, look at all the responses I've had. Now if I was journalist....

But seriously, no, I'm just another aviation enthusiast whose curiousity got the better of him.

I was told that not all airlines waited for landing !. An ex partner (who was cabin crew for another carrier at the time) witnessed a bottle of Red wine being taken into the cockpit on a transatlantic flight on a 747 in the mid 1980,s (approx 2hrs into flight). If it was a stunt / joke my partner not impressed, and if for real it is just unbelivable.:= It alarmed her so much she came back with another carrier !. The carrier used to fly the plane with the pointy nose (and lost one). I have never seen anything like this, but I have no reason to doubt her word and have not flown with that carrier since some bad trips in 707,s in the late 60,s, so have no personal knowledge of this type of thing occuring.

Mr Mac,
Airline scuttlebutt did suggest that, on a certain airline across la Manche, it was customary for the flight crew to have a glass of wine with their in-flight meal.
Perhaps a Prunnier could confirm?

Back in the 80's when I worked for a well regarded airline subsequently absorbed by a Bigger Airline it was not uncommon for a bottle or two of Krug to be opened on finals so the ride in the crew bus to our hotel was somewhat merry :}

When seconded to an Indian Ocean outfit by my muslim employers in the mid-90's I was delighted to find a glass of Grande Dame placed in the drink holder of my 767 just after shutdown. Very civilised!

As to drinks in flight- the national airline of a large European wine producer apparently used to serve a glass of wine with their crew meals. Since Les buggers probably hadn't NOT had a glass of red with their lunch since before puberty i'd suggest it was probably less dangerous than their going through withdrawal on a long haul flight?

Cheers!

Quite honestly after shutdown I just don't see the harm. Basically a never ending march of miserable jobsworths and managers has put stop to most of life's little perks. That or crew have just got sneakier.....

I'm sure a drop of Bolly before leaving the aircraft would make 24 hours in Islamabad more humane too.

Those were indeed "the days".
My Father-in-Law was a 747 SCSO in the late seventies/early eighties. Life was good. We often dined on Smoked Salmon and a Fillet Tail - perhaps a little Caviar, accompanied by some excellent beverages, when he returned from a three week Asian/Australia/NZ trip.
From the conversations with various management that visited the house for dinner from time to time, it seemed then, that everyone in the company, from top to bottom, pulled together to a) enjoy themselves and b) deliver a good product to the customer.
Or maybe I'm looking through the proverbial tinted spec's....

If you got on well with the 1st class galley steward he would let you have the spare sirloin of beef that no one wanted and possibly and odd bottle of Cointreau or Drambuie. Shopping in those days was better than any trip to Tesco's.

mmmmm.....I'm getting all tearful for the 'good old days'. The Meanies buggered it up years ago mostly because of the the old 'green eye'.

I just hope the biros they nick leak all over their Bri-Nylon shirts!

oooh the memories! I remember flying on the 767 and having landing drinks in CUN..those were the days!

Even better when I worked for another airline on the 777...not allowed to land with half full bottles of champagne or wine..what to do with all those bottles!??!

When we used to fly between JFK and Kingston Jamaica we served the passengers with rum swizzles.

The 'swizzle mix' was loaded in containers and the rum bit was loaded as cases of Appelton Estate Jamaican rum. The standing instruction was that as the rum was not part of the normal bar stock it had to be disposed of down the sink.


You may wish to speculate on what happened to those bottles of finest rum and the first clue is none of the passengers ever got drunk on rum swizzles however the crew in the hotel...........


Memories, memories!

I have to say brown milk was my favourite bus journey tipple. Little bit of coffee in the bottom of the pot, touch of hot water to liquefy it, then add 3 of each brandy, kahlua and drambuie. Top up with mik and put on ice for at least 3 hrs. Always made twice the amount for the long hazardous journeys to the Oberoi in BOM, and that long journey across the mountains in MRU. Always remember one old soak of a CSD falling flat on his face out of the bus at the hotel in MRU after a particularly long boozy journey. The look of horror from some of the well heeled guests remains with me to this day!!

Also always remember that the taxi into certain dry Gulf states seemed to take forever for some reason;);)

Was more shocked to read the first post - so they don't get landing drinks anymore . . . . . .how sad! Of course we had landing drinks - everybody had their bar bill to pay - allowance of one packet of ciggerettes (or cigars), three cans of lager - and the afore mentioned landing drinks!! And yes - on night stops - the coffee jugs did contain pre-mixed cocktails for the crew party!! Happy Days :D

Just 15 yrs ago in a certain now defunct all-red airline based in the EU all the unused booze was put into a carrier bag and carried to the crewroom for consumption there. (This on the frequent holiday charter flights that had a free bar so there was no accounting. Why give it back to the caterers?) Apart from what was consumed during the taxy onto stand of course. It was not unknown for the early crews to find a late crew (or two) sprawled raucously over the tables in the crewroom at 0430

So what?

Its rather comical to see the surprise and incredulity from people who joined this business after the fun police arrived. It wasn't always this anal, you know!

Have you guys been reading Airline Babylon ?!

No but I'm in it!

Fellow´s the good old days are gone, what a shame. The same breed that is in short sighted Management today is in the Cabin and call´s himself "Customer" missing the behaiviour of the old days as well.

The rest of the good old days stayes in my memory and makes me smile when I think back, it goes down with me six ft deep.

Fly safe and land happy

NG

With a certain charter airline I flew with in the 1980s it was standard to sit drinking the odd G and T in the crewroom whilst the cabin crew counted the bars doing similar at circa 4 am after a night flight and well before the office wallahs arrived.

It didn't do any harm and was a social way of ironing out any difficulties encountered during the duty - we worked hard and played hard.

The company had it's own transport to position/reposition back to base - manys the crew that arrived back after the ride back in, shall we say, a merry state.

Methinks you are protesting too much!