Originally Posted by
origin
On a serious note. To open a bottle of Champagne you are supposed to hold a tea towel over the cork and twist the bottle. I would have thought BA H&S would have told them this already.
It ended well this time, but next time someone might not be so lucky.
I don't know about the tea towel part, but anyone opening champagne needs to be aware that once the cage has been taken off the cork, it could shoot out at any time. At an absolute mininum, you need to watch the bottle and be pointing it away from people; ideally you keep you hand over the cork until you've twisted it out.
It's not at all rare for the cork to shoot out without any further encouragement once the cage is off - probably happens about one time in ten. Sounds like the stewardess concerned needs to be banished to WT where she would not have to worry about such things.