inventory control changes on F wines?
 

Curious if someone knows. Several times in the past year/two the purser was kind enough to give me a wine I liked in a duty free bag. On both recent flights (JFK-DXB and DXB-BKK), both pursers refused, both lying about the reason (first saying if it wasn't into DXB they would, second saying if it had been into DXB they would have). Not getting a free bottle of wine is fine, with the first purser I just let the lie pass, besides I had drank my fair share during the flight :).

In general though lying really hits a raw nerve with me, so on the second flight after the purser refused I said, great, then I'd like to do a taste test so could you send over my FA. For reference on that flight I was the ONLY person in F (DXB-BKK), during Ramadan and had slept nearly the whole flight without drinking anything nor plans to drink anything. I was just so annoyed about the lie that I had them open every bottle of alcohol in first and took a sip of each. Spare all the "you are an a**hole for doing that" comments please.

I really am curious if Emirates has recently begun a strict inventory control on empty bottles for each flight? So the days of kind pursers, in regards to generosity with wine, are a thing of the past? Important to note that these flights, as with all my EK fligths are full paid F flights, no upgrades or rewards.

Do they really need to provide a reason for not giving you a free bottle of (expensive) wine to take home?

Having a purser offer a pax a bottle of wine is a generous, though likely unauthorized, gesture. I had a flight attendant in Y once visibly get worried about getting me a bottle of water from J once, so yeah, they probably have lots of rules of this kind of stuff.

To get upset that you didn't get a freebie - regardless of the answer - seems unwarranted. Remember, it's a freebie. Maybe they could/should have just said "I'm sorry, it's against the rules", but perhaps they were trying to be nice.

I don't think they really cared that you asked to taste all the wines, by the way.

Not really important to note at all. First class perhaps, classless definitely.

Why would you expect to be given a bottle of wine from stock? If unopened it will be used on a later flight. On many airlines crew caught doing this will be disciplined. As your title states airlines will carry out inventory control - a missing bottle of expensive wine may result in crew facing allegations of theft. Not sure how you can use unfounded allegations of lying as some form of justification for obtaining something that you are not entitled to?

He/ she definitely crossed the line there...
They were just trying to be polite and save face rather than being blunt about it.

No harm done there to either EK or the Purser/ FAs except some human effort wasted for no cause. Not sure if you are aware that they empty all opened bottles prior to landing irrespective of the amount consumed/ remaining...

Exactly. Just because something is available inflight doesn't mean that you can carry it home. I've seen several Y pas putting unopened drinks cans into their baggage but you can overlook that for pax in Y. Definitely not in F. You like a wine so much - you either drink yourself silly in the air (@m3red & DP :p) or/ and go and purchase as many bottles as you like on the ground.

This whole episode has all the familiarity of someone who has been getting away with something to which they have zero entitlement, but - when having it (correctly) stopped - directs their frustration at the individual observing the rules.

The very notion of providing a takeaway bottle of wine gratis to any passenger (regardless of whether in F revenue or reward/upgrade ....:rolleyes:) who happens to express a liking for it makes no sense whatever.

Am I missing something, or is the bit where the FA lied missing from the story?

If crew take items from the plane (not just wine, but things like jams and creams and cutlery) or give them to people to be taken off the plane, it's a firing offence - end of story. They might get away with a warning if they have say, one disposable honey pot, but a wine bottle, open or not, is pretty much instant firing. Do some manage to smuggle it out? Yes of course. Do Pursers find out and report crew for doing it? Yes. Could a purser be reported by his/her crew for allowing it? Yes. Do they know if any of the other passengers are secret shoppers or auditors or loss prevention? No.

As to having them open all the bottles of wine? It's a fairly regular occurrence so nothing out of the ordinary. All opened bottles are thrown away, no matter how much is poured out. Spirits etc. are kept on board. For instance, m3red will cry, but I know of a couple of FG1 crew who literally pour hundreds of bottles of Dom down the toilet every year. Even the rosé :)

If they knew that you were just being petty about opening everything they would just laugh about you in the galley and you would just be another anecdote about crazy F pax :) However, given the regularity with which people try and sample every bottle of wine in F, it was probably not even noticed...

The crew were the ones who had me try all the reds on my last ULH F flight!

(and they were delicious)

I once got given a bottle of veuve because of a prior complaint. I'm sure this was logged by the purser...

In 10's of F sectors this year I've not had the offer of a bottle of wine or DP :rolleyes:

If you can fly F you can buy the wine as well.

Yes, I imagine that was almost certainly the case - in much the same way that petty behaviour by diners can often provide amusement fodder for restaurant staff, back in the kitchen and/or after closing time. It's all been seen before ...nothing new under the sun.

There is something particularly galling about the accusation of "lying". I suppose that it would have been better for crew to have said, "sorry, but that would be theft and my employer would terminate me for doing that. So, I will not." But, crew are trained to deflect controversy.

If you can afford an F ticket, OP says it was paid, you can afford a bottle of wine. The proper approach is to ask crew to see the bottle and either write down the particulars of the label or snap a picture so you can locate it when you get home.

The real lesson here is that no good deed goes unpunished. The crew who gave away the bottles merely caused misery for their colleagues later.

What's next, "I rather like that weather radar -- do you mind if I pack it up?"

I think the first step would be to bring large amounts of tupperware in one's carry-ons and load up on all the bottles of wine and food in the lounge for consumption on board ;)

Paid by you or by someone else?

If paid by you, you can afford to buy the wine so need for this. If by someone else, and you can't afford the wine, buy a cheaper one or save up until you can.