I was on an Air New Zealand flight from RAR to AKL last week and 6 of the PAX in the C cabin were deadheading crew. In a conversation with one of them she indicated they were on the final leg of an 11 day cycle, they flew into RAR from LAX and now were going home to AKL. She mentioned it was the last duty segment for each of them.

What I don't understand is the fact that a couple of them were drinking alcohol. The one I spoke with had 4 glasses of wine on the flight. Personally I don't care if someone drinks alcohol or not (hey I enjoy a glass), but when you comment you are working/deadheading/repositioning and Air NZ crew, is that allowed? They were not in uniform and I would not have known they were crew except for her comments.

Is this legal? I'm not looking to file a complaint here, I'm just curious as to the regulations here.

Even though I work for AS, most of my friends who are pilots fly for FX (Fed Ex.) Anyway, they can drink when they deadhead as long as they obey all the relevant rules about drinking and not acting as a crewmember.

They are not supposed to drink when they are in uniform, however, some will head back to the galley and order up a Bailey's and coffee or other mixed drink and simply have it prepared out of sight of the pax.

The industry term for it is "pilots drink."

edited to add: the above info applies to the FX guys I know. I don't know how or if AS pilots do it.

Since they were just positioning home and had no further flying duties that day, I am reasonably sure that no laws were broken. It may be bad form to drink in uniform, but it's by no means illegal, provided you are off-duty and won't run afoul of the 12-hour or 24-hour rule ("xx hours from bottle to throttle", time required depends on country/airline).

Most airlines have a policy that says you can't drink in uniform due to public image issues. Out of uniform on a deadhead flight... no problem at all, as long as you aren't breaking any regulations related to work you need to do the next day.

Personally, if they were in coach, after hearing of a shift like that, I would buy them a round (although I imagine the FAs would take care of them so that my help wouldn't be needed).

The term "deadheading" refers to being on duty to/from an assignment. I don't know any airline that allows drinking while deadheading since it is considered on duty (in uniform or not).

The Fedex pilots that someone referred to earlier may be deadheading the day prior to an assignment however, I would be very surprised if the company allowed any drinking while deadheading as a passenger. I would be shocked actually.

Non-reving is a different story since you are using travel benefits for personal use.

Thankfully, booze is still free on Air New Zealand (and most other non-US carriers).