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

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;);)

Landing drinks
 

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!

Hmmm
 

Have you guys been reading Airline Babylon ?!

No but I'm in it!