Drinking - Flying - The Dilemna
 

Has anyone else tried to give up drinking? All is going well until a long haul CX flight!!

1. The Lounge - navigate the champagne bar, the bar, the free flow restaurant...
2. Boarding - is that a glass of champagne? Hmmmm
3. Dinner - "Any drinks sir?" with a trolley brimming with bottles and cans...
4. Trips to the bathroom - there they are again - those wine bottles open and calling you next to all the snacks...

Anyway this is semi in jest, semi serious. I've only managed 2 entirely dry flights in the last 100 though :p

Any tips?!

Well u dont have to go entirely dry but u dont have to go all out either?!?

It's easy, all you need to do is to fly Y and not to use your status ;)

I hear what you're saying, but it's not something I worry about too much, unless I'm going straight to work or driving a car on arrival.

After an episode on AA where the crew member kept refilling my G&T without me noticing, and then getting up mid flight and feeling that the plane was going into a terminal spin, I've restricted myself whatever airline I'm flying.

I may have a pre-dinner drink (if offered, a lot of airlines seem to bypass that now!). I'm not a great fan of wine so will skip that - unless a nice beer is being served (rare) and I may have a port with the cheese course. Then it's water or juice or maybe a coke for the caffeine/sugar hit on a long haul.

Avoid the lounge except to eat or relax. If you have to pay for it, it will help avoid it.

Decide on some non-alcoholic beverage you like, and ask for it after boarding and during flight. Make this a habit. I enjoy seltzer with lime, myself. Explore other beverage choices.

Remind yourself that just because you don't take something that is free doesn't mean you're missing out.

It sounds like it will take a little willpower, but you can do it.

No, but I've flown a number where I was at a party or function of some sort, got kind of wasted, then went to the lounge got more wasted, then boarded the flight, now totally wasted, than didn't remember how I got home at all.

Needless to say I was impressed with my own ability to at least not die in the middle of nowhere. I think I'm a drunk. Okay, I said it!

challenging… agreed!
 

unless I got a cold or a hangover (or both), I find it a rather challenging too… just happen to like the bubbly too much. Had only two flights in last three years, where I went sober.

Tried again the other day on SAS PE from Asia to Europe, but not a chance in the world. The helpful stewardess even insisted on leaving the bottle, when my neighbour (met on the plane) answered he would love a another glass for his meal. Seriously!

Never had them leave me the bottle, but I do get a lot of involuntary pours. If it looks full, I'll take a big sip so in case we hit turbulence I don't get wine all over myself (it's happened). So now if the FA sees you take a nice big sip after they pour it, what do they do? They top it off again!

It's the only time I drink something other than beer, so I do make heavy use of the various offerings. I don't believe I have ever said no to that PD champagne...

I had to give up flying with a cold altogether, due to two painful inner ear infections as direct results. This was the only time I wouldn't drink at all. Now it's always 5 o'clock for me.

This is the main point. Because it's "free" you feel like you need to avail yourself of it.

Probably true. I never drink in US lounges that don't have an open bar, but instead a barkeeper that I would probably have to tip.

At the same time, the reason I do enjoy lounge and on-board drinking is because it's one of the rare occasions I can get anything done for work without having to be sober. Even if it's just getting from A to B :D

The airlines must have good data that shows that, although it would cause the occasional major problem, liquoring up the pax must make for smoother operations. They're not providing all that booze because they love us. OP is absolutely right, alcohol is almost literally rammed down our throats, both on the ground and on board. Now with tendered bars in all lounges, single malts as standard and special promos in the J lounge, the self-serve champagne bar in the F lounge with 3 types... Then on board, even in Y as DMs we get brought J booze on request with cabin crew come down into Y cabin with bottles of champagne to top up our plastic cups on those Friday evening SIN-HKG flights...

I'm not sure how I'd cope if I had to give up drinking (I'd probably have to force myself onto LCCs).

Fly Royal Brunei, Saudia, Kuwait Air or Iran Air ;):rolleyes:

Happy wandering

Fred

PS I'm actually not 100% certain about the last two...

it's hard for me to not drink. once, on a flight from BKK to HKG in EK F class, my friend and I kept on drinking the Dom Perignon the lovely Thai FA left a full bottle with us

At least drink the high quality stuff. Quality over quantity.

Many airlines have cheaper wines and other beverages in their lounges than they serve up in the air in premium cabin longhaul flights. In many places, they also serve cheaper "champagne" on the ground because they must pay duty on it.

Or drink small portions, as in a tasting or wine flights. In premium cabins there should be no hesitation to open new bottles even if you only want a sip of each.

CX's wine glasses, are anything but flights..and usually the more senior crew tend to be keen to remind me that I am a biiiggg boyyy (their words), by filling (&re-filling) them close to the brim. Good that CX's wines are crap & I don't have more than a glass, if at all...but then, they do that for the whisky as well!

and, the un-clued in junior crew tend to overfill, to wash their hands off your call bell ringing after the first one..

Perhaps, they hate having to throw away the unused booze at the end of the flight as much as I hate them seeing do it?

We do look forward to our CX flights, but yes, I end up over-drinking esp on CX.

The legendary one was ORD-HKG in F which started with the purser telling my wife 'lets get him drunk' when he saw me...I crawled & tottered off the plane on that one..and back on ..after wifey reminded that i'd left some fab rum cake on board (well, the crew did get one pack on my second de-board attempt)..must've been close to the whole bottle of the Glenmorangie Signet that day/night (for the record, I'd take Macallan 17 over that) - no one else was drinking anything in F...have a vague recollection of meeting a fellow FTer @ The Wing that night...ok, that was a stretch - I do remember his handle, but don't have a clue what he looks like.

I try my best to resist and only limit myself to the high quality stuff to justify the calories/hangover - I'll have a glass of champagne here and there when flying F, but don't drink when I'm flying J/Y. A while ago I just kept accepting refills and would always regret it when I felt awful later in the flight.

These days, give me a Cathay Delight and I am a happy camper. ^

With alcohol prices what they are in Singapore proper, and it being Friday night, most of the PAX wanting to drink is not surprising...
(though I try and drink more in the QF/BA/QR lounges in SIN than on the flight...)

The easiest way to stop drinking on flights is to have car hire once on the ground (and require it for work.)
Either that, or force yourself on LCCs/carriers that only serve rubbish alcohol onboard
(OK, even with that last point, if there's enough mixer, I don't care what the shot of alcohol I'm drinking is...)

DilemNa ?

Dilemma, perhaps ...