Whining about Wine
 

In a meandering thread on the United board, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum50/HTML/003965.html ,it was discussed how some flyers sometimes get gifts of bottles of winw from the crew, and some flyers never get these gifts.

This seemed interesting enough to warrent its own thread.

What is your experience regarding these gifts?

I'll start.

600,000+ miles on Delta as SM,GM,PM.
300,000+ miles on UA, Premier, PremierExec
6-7 international C or F trips/year.

Never got a bottle of wine.

250,000 miles on DL as SM and GM.

One bottle when LAX-ATL was full in F and I didn't get upgraded.

One bottle on CDG-CVG BE when only three or four of us were drinking Cabernet, leaving them so many bottles of it on hand the FAs handed one out to each of us who had been drinking it.

I've gotten wine on UA flights six times this year (combo of domestic and international flights).

There are a variety of reasons for the gift.

One is a tip from Punki (thanks Punki http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ). As a 1K I most often get asked for my meal choice first. If there are two choices that I like, I give the FA both choices, and tell them to give me whichever is left after all the orders are taken.

Since I'm a wine affectionado I always make it a point to visit the galley and look at the wine selections on my international legs (obviously pointless on most domestic flights). Often, if I haven't drank them out of my selection on the flight, I'll find a bottle wrapped in a napkin in my lap not long before landing.

The memorable 'gift' though came from a FA on an OAK-ORD flight. That particular week I was booked SFO-YVR-SFO and then OAK-ORD the next day. Miranda worked FC up to YVR one day and back the next (and did a great job as well). The next morning at 6 a.m., in a very sleepy state, I boarded my flight only to be greeted by, yup, Miranda, who remembered me from the prior two days. At the end of the flight she gave me a bottle of wine with a nice note, and said with a smile "lately I've seen more of you than my husband http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif "

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danville 1K


[This message has been edited by danville 1K (edited 12-09-2000).]

I think i am up to 9 bottles this year on 170k domestic miles on ua. that includes about 10 red-eye flights that i sleep from boarding to landing. my wife even got one on a flight that was a one stop and some of the f/a's were the same.

now that i almost have a complete set of napkins, i am going to start working on silver and glasses http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

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f

A couple of times:

Last time, I had simply switched from one C seat to another on the upper deck of a 747. Change was at request of couple wanting to sit together. I had no problem, but missed my window seat!

FA presented me with bottle for "my inconvenience."

Interesting that all of the people who have responded that they have received several bottles, were on UA. I have *seen* (never been given) bottles being given to people on 3 flights, all on United.

Guess I will be the one to buck the trend here. In the past several years I have been presented with a number of bottles but all have been either from BA or AA (even though there was a time when I flew UA almost exclusively).

BA gave me a lovely bottle of Charles Heidsieck "Brut Reserve" Champagne on a LHR-ORD flight and AA has given me several bottles ranging from Merlots and Cabernets on domestic flights to a 1988 Pommery "Louise" when flying CDG-ORD last March.

I think "danville 1K" touched on a very important issue: for those of us who have been presented bottles of wine other than as compensation for problems encountered, it really is all in the presentation of oneself to the flight attendants.

A very dear friend flies the CVG-FRA route for DL and he has said a number of times how thrilled he is to have someone express an interest in their service beyond just saying, "I'll have the steak." He said that many of his colleagues also appreciate any customer who talks with them about the food or the wines offered. They are very happy to learn from the folks they are serving while sharing their own thoughts on the subject.

On my AA CDG-ORD flight last March I kept telling the Purser, as she kept filling my glass, how pleased I was to have found the Pommery "Louise" on the wine list. Just before landing, she and another flight attendant came up to me and said, "We have this extra bottle of the Pommery and we want you to have it since you enjoyed it so much."

Last weekend, on my ORD-NRT flight, I spent a lot of time in the aft Coach galley (even though I was flying in "J" class) talking with a couple of the flight attendants about the service and travel in general. As I returned to my seat about an hour before landing, one of them asked me if I had been given a bottle of something (my choice) to enjoy while in Tokyo. I thanked her but declined because I was rather loaded down with carry-on items as it was, yet it was another example of how showing an interest in the inflight service can go a long way.

On United as a 1K Million Mile Flyer, I get one on at least 70% of my flights in First.

About 40% of that, no solicitation is required and a bottle of whatever the FA wants to gift is discretely given to me.

If I wish to "target" a particular vintage, I find that a rave review about a particular wine when visiting the galley to chat (and audit the manifest while chatting) is about all that is required to be gifted a bottle, in my experience.

I can't say how many bottles I've received, but it's in the hundreds! I'd need a cellar for them all, except for the fact that I tend to consume the outbound gift at my destination, and the return bottle doesn't last very long either.

I've got a stack of those white United cloth napkins that they wrap them in (sometimes very nicely with a flower and a note) about a foot and a half high!

Gifted a few boxes of Godiva chocolates over the years as well as countless barf bags full of a few "minis" to use in my hotel room apon arrival.

I am very grateful to United for the onboard recognition! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif And I'm never the least bit upset when I (rarely) walk away empty handed.


[This message has been edited by PremEx (edited 12-09-2000).]

Last time I got a bottle of Dom on a UA flight after my seat-companion dropped a glass of wine on me while the purser was taking our meal order.... (we were seated in F). The FA was more embarrased than my seat-mate.... (luckily it was white wine, else I may have gotten quite upset).


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Gaucho100K

On a Qantas flight between LAX-SYD two years ago, the customer service manager asked me to change business class seats to accommodate a couple who wanted to sit together. I cheerfully agreed. The CSM rewarded me, not with a bottle of wine, but with 60 minutes in the cockpit of a 747 over the South Pacific. The memory of my conversation with the pilots lasted far longer than a bottle of wine.

I have friends who ALWAYS tell their FAs that they're taking a long-awaited 30th anniversary trip. Their fabrications net them a bottle of wine nearly every time (as well as an occasional cabin announcement).

{Dupe}



[This message has been edited by essxjay (edited 12-09-2000).]

I've been gifted four or maybe five bottles in the past year or so. All that seems to trigger it is a sincere interest in the FA's opinion of some aspect of their job: merger negotiations, SFH operations, new uniforms or whatever. I've also been discreetly offered a glass or two of the F cabin selections. Nice when it happens. Or as Punki puts it, "I try to be consistently lucky." http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Over the years I've gotten a case. Easy.

I just schmooze and hang out during my JFK/LA runs. They 'love' to surprise me. This trip (I'm in LA now), I was given a bottle of Martini Cab. I wish I got it on the way home.

Dan

Most recently on AA CDG-LAX by a nice FA thay went out of her way with great service the entire flight, although not seated in her section. I was seated in her section on the trip over and this is to what I would attribute the two bottles of wine.

Noticed a fellow in F on both flights and he too walked off the plane with two bottles.

Perhaps on two domestic flights it has happened. However, I have been offered mints on most flights prior to landing.