Dom Perignon Champagne
 

My wife and I are flying to Australia in first in December from UK. As we both do not drink alcohol when we fly I wondered if we asked for a bottle to take off in Oz whether they would allow or tell us to scarper. Seems a shame not being able to enjoy champagne once we don’t have to worry about jet lag etc.. I realise it sounds cheap but if you don’t ask you don’t get sometimes.

You can ask, but I'd expect you'll be told no.

Is there a rationale behind your response

Common sense.

The crew would probably be fired if they were caught giving away expensive bottles of champagne.

I find that hard to believe but thanks for your view

There may be rare occasions where a bottle of something is offered as a service recovery gesture by the purser or other exceptional circumstances, but otherwise the crew have to account for empty bottles of the wine consumed during the flight, particularly the likes of DP, precisely to prevent what's being requested here.

I doubt that. I think the purser has the decision making capability on something like this. I've heard of numerous instances (even here on FT) where a bottle of Dom was given to a pax, either as a gift or as a service recovery effort.

To OP, might as well ask, but just assume they will most likely say no.

Thank you. That’s what I actually thought may be the case. Obviously I’m not really bothered if it’s refused but thought asking for personal experience on here would better inform me. Cheers (well maybe not if it’s refused)

Alcohol on airplanes is complicated. Country dependant, if an airline opens a bottle on the ground, they need to pay the duty on that bottle in the country they are in. In the air no duty is to be paid. Hence why some airlines have different offerings on the ground versus in the air.

Thus, if a flight attendant were to give you a bottle for you to take off the plane, they would need to 'import' that bottle into whatever country you landed in. In many countries, leaving an aircraft with a bottle of alcohol is likely illegal and the airline could get fined or consequences to the passenger if not declared upon arrival.

Bottom line, expect the answer to be 'No'.

After you land, the expensive empty bottles (F) are counted on the ground and compared to how many were loaded onto the aircraft.
If there is a missing one, e.g., one gifted to you, the crew face disciplinary action.

The cabin crew, therefore, takes personal risks to accommodate your request, with no upside.

You're not the first person to think about this, and policies and procedures are in place at almost every airline globally to stop expensive bottles walking off the aircraft.
You may get lucky asking for something cheap from biz class, eg Moet-- but for 50 bucks you can buy it yourself in a store.

Don't make things awkward for the crew by asking.

Once I was on an Fiji Airways / Air Pacific flight to Nadi with an onward connection. I had bought something like a model aircraft from their onboard duty free so before landing the purser asked me whether I would be interested in carrying a bottle of wine off the plane ... I don't know why he asked me...

Anyways I said yes and carried it off but because I would have had to check it in for my next flight or sit in the holding pen in order to security to guzzle 750 ml of the red stuff I politely asked one of the ground staff there if they would be interested and they said yes so I relieved myself of the grape juice burden and in doing so also paid the buzz forward :)

There are strict guidelines, so unlikely

If you don't ask, the answer is always no. OP has nothing to lose by asking!

Exactly what I said in post 2 :)