Pax and Alcohol
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Join Date: Sep 2001
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Pax and Alcohol
Over the last 6 months or so I have been doing quite a lot of travel for business.
I fly with QANTAS in business class (paid for by work i confess) and I have noticed something which (to me) is rather disturbing behaviour and I was wondering if this was accross all airlines and classes.
The fact is that as soon as some folks bum hits the seat (or even before for those in the QANTAS Club) they must start drinking and are unable to stop for the whole flight. The Brisbane - Perth run I have been doing lately is turning into a real trial.
Last Thursday I was stuck next to this guy who was drinking Crownies like they were going out of style and seriously did not stop for 5 bloody hours. At the start he was polite but by the end it was all I could do not to snot him one. I still don't know how the cabin crew managed to stay so polite particularly after he called one an "ignorant slut" because she would not ignore other passengers just for him.
I know that when you pay a fair bit of money (but it's not that much really) for a business class seat you expect a few freebies. But couldn't they be limited? Do we have to get pi55ed?
Don't get me wrong, I like a drink occassionaly and usually have a wine in the QClub before getting on the flight and usually have a beer or two in the air, but this is much more than that.
I just wonder if it annoys the crew as much as it irritates the rest of the passengers and if so why is it allowed to happen??? Is it possible to get limits on the amount of alcohol per Pax or per flight? Do we need booze in the air at all?
I fly with QANTAS in business class (paid for by work i confess) and I have noticed something which (to me) is rather disturbing behaviour and I was wondering if this was accross all airlines and classes.
The fact is that as soon as some folks bum hits the seat (or even before for those in the QANTAS Club) they must start drinking and are unable to stop for the whole flight. The Brisbane - Perth run I have been doing lately is turning into a real trial.
Last Thursday I was stuck next to this guy who was drinking Crownies like they were going out of style and seriously did not stop for 5 bloody hours. At the start he was polite but by the end it was all I could do not to snot him one. I still don't know how the cabin crew managed to stay so polite particularly after he called one an "ignorant slut" because she would not ignore other passengers just for him.
I know that when you pay a fair bit of money (but it's not that much really) for a business class seat you expect a few freebies. But couldn't they be limited? Do we have to get pi55ed?
Don't get me wrong, I like a drink occassionaly and usually have a wine in the QClub before getting on the flight and usually have a beer or two in the air, but this is much more than that.
I just wonder if it annoys the crew as much as it irritates the rest of the passengers and if so why is it allowed to happen??? Is it possible to get limits on the amount of alcohol per Pax or per flight? Do we need booze in the air at all?
I cant relate it to QF, but I used to be cc on flights across the country (charter), where we took normal passengers as far as the first stop, then continued on to the mine with only the miners. The return would be miners only to the half way stop, then we'd pick up some extra normal pax.
The journey in each direction with the stop was about 6-7hours.
On the way out, the miners were not allowed to drink, but the normal pax were (so always had the pax list on hand). There were never any issues on the way out.
On the way home, the policy changed several times, but alcohol was generally allowed. There was a limit of one alcoholic drink per hour per pax. Fair enough, that equalls about 2-3 drinks per sector.
Obviously its difficult to keep tabs on whos had what. You also are limited in controlling what else is bought on board by them to swig away at.
I found they were generally decent guys, and was happy to let them have a few drinks (ignoring the hour rule) on the first flight. They however knew if they wanted to keep getting served, they had to behave, be respectful to the girls, and keep the noise down when the normal pax joined us for the last sector home.
A couple of these flights we did dry, and I can say that i would much rather have tipsy pax than angry sober pax desperate for a drink!
Have had the odd off their face pax on board, I generally dont mind, but Ive always had the support of their work colleagues to calm them down if they get too loud or rude.
I found by treating them like adults, theyd appreciate it and behave. A couple of girls decided to play tough on one of the flights, 1 drink per sector (they made up their own ruling on that one), and they had much much bigger problems to deal with. The pax went nuts!
As for any normal passenger, ill serve until they become rude, a risk to themselves, or a disturbance to others. Then, depending on their attitude and what theyre drinking theres a couple of ways to deal with it:
1) completely cut off until landing, or they sober up a bit.
2) serve them soft drink, with the rim of the glass lined with the spirit they asked for (then switch off the cabin lights).
3) close the bar early.
4) say youve run out, and serve other pax from the aft carts discreetly.
The journey in each direction with the stop was about 6-7hours.
On the way out, the miners were not allowed to drink, but the normal pax were (so always had the pax list on hand). There were never any issues on the way out.
On the way home, the policy changed several times, but alcohol was generally allowed. There was a limit of one alcoholic drink per hour per pax. Fair enough, that equalls about 2-3 drinks per sector.
Obviously its difficult to keep tabs on whos had what. You also are limited in controlling what else is bought on board by them to swig away at.
I found they were generally decent guys, and was happy to let them have a few drinks (ignoring the hour rule) on the first flight. They however knew if they wanted to keep getting served, they had to behave, be respectful to the girls, and keep the noise down when the normal pax joined us for the last sector home.
A couple of these flights we did dry, and I can say that i would much rather have tipsy pax than angry sober pax desperate for a drink!
Have had the odd off their face pax on board, I generally dont mind, but Ive always had the support of their work colleagues to calm them down if they get too loud or rude.
I found by treating them like adults, theyd appreciate it and behave. A couple of girls decided to play tough on one of the flights, 1 drink per sector (they made up their own ruling on that one), and they had much much bigger problems to deal with. The pax went nuts!
As for any normal passenger, ill serve until they become rude, a risk to themselves, or a disturbance to others. Then, depending on their attitude and what theyre drinking theres a couple of ways to deal with it:
1) completely cut off until landing, or they sober up a bit.
2) serve them soft drink, with the rim of the glass lined with the spirit they asked for (then switch off the cabin lights).
3) close the bar early.
4) say youve run out, and serve other pax from the aft carts discreetly.
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Correct me if I'm wrong.. but I thought the rules as per responsible service applied on board aircraft i.e., one cannot serve a pax who is intoxicated or acting so... or irratible/cranky/name calling etc... if someone is drinking for 5 hours straight it sounds as though someone is not doing their job... isn't it right that crew can be held legally liable for anything that happens should it be found they continued serving alcohol to a pax after they should have stopped?
Or does it vary from airline to airline??
Or does it vary from airline to airline??
skysista, you are right.
i dont know about the crew being held personally liable, it would depend on the company. If the crew member was serving when they had been trained to stop, i would assume they could be.
it can be tricky, esp when it comes to cutting someone off from the bar.
i dont know about the crew being held personally liable, it would depend on the company. If the crew member was serving when they had been trained to stop, i would assume they could be.
it can be tricky, esp when it comes to cutting someone off from the bar.
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Angel, yes you're right it can be very tricky! One person's p!ssed can be another's tipsy or simply just being 'funny'... I guess though if the pax is behaving in a manner that others would complain the first course would be to stop serving for the time being until things calm down a bit.. then again I was not the FA there so I can't say she should not have kept serving.. even though it may sound that way from what was said...
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Breathlyse the pax 
Drug and alcohol testing for aviation workers? Maybe for pax as well
At least, it'll be an objective measure that's a little harder to argue with than a distinction between "a bit merry" and "sloshed".
Drug and alcohol testing for aviation workers? Maybe for pax as well
At least, it'll be an objective measure that's a little harder to argue with than a distinction between "a bit merry" and "sloshed".
Thread Starter
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Blade Root
I tried that once but found that it was just too much effort to get out of the seat, climb accross the neigbor to go to the bathroom and then do the same in reverse whilst unstable with nothing to hold onto.
In fact I had an unfortunate lapse of balance on a return flight the other week trying to get back into 1F and found that the back of the seats will not hold their position when a 142kg pax falls into it.
The poor b@st@rd behind me wore all the wine and water on his dinner tray. You could hear the yell throughout the plane
There were so many cabin crew around the guy in 2 milliseconds I thought they climbed out of the overhead compartments...
Anyhoo, I was just bitching about the SOB's who get an attitude after a few drinks and get worse as they drink more. They don't even have the decency to pass out.
Pass-A-Frozo
I tried that once but found that it was just too much effort to get out of the seat, climb accross the neigbor to go to the bathroom and then do the same in reverse whilst unstable with nothing to hold onto.
In fact I had an unfortunate lapse of balance on a return flight the other week trying to get back into 1F and found that the back of the seats will not hold their position when a 142kg pax falls into it.
The poor b@st@rd behind me wore all the wine and water on his dinner tray. You could hear the yell throughout the plane
There were so many cabin crew around the guy in 2 milliseconds I thought they climbed out of the overhead compartments...Anyhoo, I was just bitching about the SOB's who get an attitude after a few drinks and get worse as they drink more. They don't even have the decency to pass out.
Pass-A-Frozo
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I usually try and drink my QANTAS club membership fee. Then of course HAVE to try drink the difference in my business class airfare vs an economy class airfare.
It's un-Australian to do anything else...
Me: "I'm here to check in"
Checkin: "Not a problem.. you are aware your flight isn't for another four hours??"
Me: "Yeah, I would have been here a few hours ago but I'm running late today.. which way to the Qantas Club?"
Anyone know how many free drink "coupons" you can get in the American Airlines lounges? They give you a couple on entry... can you get more??
Then of course HAVE to try drink the difference in my business class airfare vs an economy class airfare. It's un-Australian to do anything else...
Me: "I'm here to check in"
Checkin: "Not a problem.. you are aware your flight isn't for another four hours??"
Me: "Yeah, I would have been here a few hours ago but I'm running late today.. which way to the Qantas Club?"
Anyone know how many free drink "coupons" you can get in the American Airlines lounges? They give you a couple on entry... can you get more??
