Do you ever notice the flight attendants looking happy and approving when passengers in first class order soft drinks and a little annoyed when they order alcohol? Am I just being paranoid? I've done some little tests and when I order water, they definitely smile at me 100% of the time, and when I order wine, there are some strange looks. Also, do you think there is a limit to the amount of wine they like to serve you? Sometimes on a flight when I know I'm not going to be driving and its been a hard week, I just like to watch a movie and drink a few glasses. If they ask me if I want another glass, why should they look huffy when I say "yes, please"? Is there some unwritten etiquette to this (other than not getting drunk) that I should be aware of?

-Velvet

I have never had a problem (that I can recall ) - often as long as you are polite they are almost overly generous. The only time I have experienced "huffy" is when I walk up to the galley area and ask or a beer after everyone else is asleep when I am on my second long flight of a 12K trip.

Just from my observation, the more people drink the less aware they become of others. They often become more noisy - even if its just a case of chatting more loudly, or laughing. In economy, they are more likely to knock something over, or simply allow their elbow or whatever to hang over into the aisle or into the other PAX's space. Add to this its the FA's that end up cleaning the toilets afterwards, I can imagine that serving alcohol can seem rather pointless.

I've noticed that PAX who should otherwise know better will happily boast in other forums here about how they got some kind of upgrade and were delighted to be able to "polish off a bottle of dom" or whatever. I can imagine the "just because its free" thing fuels the demand for booze and the FAs must get annoyed from time-to-time.

I sat next to a guy in Eva's premium economy class who told me how he always made a point of ordering as much beer as possible. 17 cans was his record for London to Bangkok. He only got 5 this time.

Finally, the first time I flew with Air France in C, the FA offered me some wine. He spoke to me in French and rapidly lost me. I said "I'm sorry, I don't really speak French". He then switched to English.

I asked "which wine would you recommend" to which he replied "they are all very good... I recommend you try them all". He came back with more glasses and put a little of each into each glass. Following my tasting, we concluded I should start with one, and then finish with another.

As he cleared the stuff away, he asked me if I enjoyed the wine. I said yes. He then replied "Sir you said before you don't really speak French. You know you really should - the wine tastes much better that way." It was a kind-of put down. But he got away with it - just.

There are some FAs that start looking at you funny if you order more than 2.

There are most FAs that really do not care

The only time I got toasted on a plane was after a breakup with my gf. On the way from LAX-CVG I had 7 cranberry/vodkas. I was quite content watching the movie through the first 5 drinks, at which point I realized the person in front of me had spilled their drink and my pant leg had caught most of it. I was too drunk to feel it, and too drunk to care. The FA's brought me another drink to try to make me feel better about the spill.

In UA F or C, at least drinking wine, I rarely have the opportunity to order two. After I order one, my glass is replenished without my asking until I ask them to stop.

What a cute story. Yes, he would have got away with the putdown with me also, it was just too gracefully done from the sound of it.

My experience is the same. If I suspect any concern, I always mention that I do not drive after I fly.

I fly a fair amount on business-traveler routes and often in the smaller
cabins and shorter flights am the only one to order a drink. Most of the
time the FAs are perfectly fine with that. Only a few times, on US Air,
have I felt that I've been served by a disapproving teetotaller. Even
on Delta to/from Salt Lake the wine kept flowing happily. And, yes,
often on United the glass gets magically refilled time after time (if it's
wine; for spirits they ask first).

On BA they make you feel bad if you turn down alcohol

I've had the opposite experience several times, e.g. flying TG NRT-BKK in F the FAs seemed genuinely disappointed that I wasn't drinking. So I accepted some Krug. ^

I rarely drink and it's even more rare on a plane with the dehydration and all. Ironically, I've been given a bit of a hard time by FA's for NOT drinking alcohol. Obviously this was in good natured fun and not meant to be harrasing. So in contrast to the OP, I've actually felt uncomfortable in a few situations when I did NOT order alcohol.

Well, stop ordering wine on that 7am departure!

One of the things that I sometimes feel embarassed about is ordering a drink early in the morning after a major timezone shift. To me its the middle of the night or early afternoonso its an appropriate time for a drink... mind you the converse is not necessarily true when I get on a plane at 7PM but to me its 8AM - I dont urn down a drink with dinner

I have experienced the opposite from the OP. In February we flew JFK-SFO-OGG on United. My BF and I were in Business PS from JFK-SFO and the flight attendant was pouring Bellini's from the minute we boarded. After the first round, most people skipped them, but I asked for another. At that point she just had fun making them for me, and kept them flowing. I knew I still had another 5 1/2 hour flight to OGG after we landed so I didn't mind indulging and she didn't mind contributing to my delinquency! They were really good to, fresh peach nector!