warehouse341

Hello All,

I have been on numerous flights where I have bought/received alcohol. I was wondering what UAL policy is.

I ask because I was on a flight recently were a FA refused to serve me. What did I order? I got a glass of wine pre depature, and two glasses of wine for dinner. I asked for a refill sometime after dinner service and the FA looked at her watch and said something as follows "its been 2 and half hours. We are limited to 1 drink an hour. I will serve you again in 30 minutes." I was slightly offended at the time. Is the published Policy either by the FAA or UAL 1 drink per hour?

I been on numerous flights where after serving a good amount of drinks they just ask if you will be driving and if not keep serving of you if you are acting fine.

goodeats21

I have been on many trips exceeding the "1 drink per hour" pace.

I don't think United (mainline) has any type of pacing rules but left to the judgement of the FA to not serve an intoxicated person.

Maybe one of the regional/Express carriers has some type of nonsense? More likely just an FA made "rule".

Singapore_Schwing

Yep. Either she assumed you were drunk already or she has a personal policy that she passes off as company policy. It's a safe assumption that on a transpac I will healthily exceed this pre departure and over the first couple of hours, then sleep. Never had anyone drop a policy on me.

Flying domestic when I was a bit younger, I had one (out of literally 1000+ flights) where a flight attendant rightly asked me if I was driving. I wasn't. I got cocktail (and likely one more).

Made up policies happen all the time. My favorite was the flight attendant on a transpac that came on the PA before departure insisting that per FAA regulations, anyone who had taken a sleeping pill MUST ring their call button and inform the flight crew, as they could not be served alcohol.

While I shudder to think what past experience led to that 'policy', 1) no one declared. 2) the guy next to me proceeded to wash a sleeping pill down with a G&T moments later, and 3) I think it's quite inappropriate for the FA's to declare that something is an FAA mandate when it's clearly not (or the least followed edict ever).

sbm12

I've been cut off before. I've seen people cut off before. I've also seen people who should be cut off but weren't.

The actual rule is:
Within that context my guess is that the FA is using the approximation of 1/hour as a means to not get in to (b)(1) territory. They can choose to enforce that however they see fit and you'll likely have trouble convincing them to serve you another drink by arguing that you're not drunk yet.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/121.575

DBCme

I see a poster above me as displayed the alcohol rule.

FWIW, at least the FA was accommodating, to some degree; rather than saying no outright, they offered to bring you another relatively soon. In the absence of installing stopwatches or handing out time-relevant drink vouchers, we are relying on a subjective interpretation of the FA to adhere to this policy. What seems fine for you (and probably me), might cause others to pass out or become a royal PIA on board.

halls120

I've never been cut off. Then again, I don't ask for an alcoholic drink less than 2 hours before arrival, so that might be the reason.

Bear96

The policy is that F/As cannot serve anyone who, in their opinion, "appears" intoxicated (consistent with the FAA rule).

No F/A likes to confront someone by coming right out and saying, "You 'appear' intoxicated so I can't serve you now." This almost always results in an argument, and arguing with drunk people ain't no fun. So some come up with other tricks / excuses to slow down the alcohol flow to let the drinker's metabolism catch up.

Which *may* have been what happened here.

Singapore_Schwing

Truer words have never been spoken. As an addendum to my comments above, I don't blame flight attendants from being a bit gunshy. I have seen people make royal asses of themselves and disturb the hell out of others on flights. Everything from spilled drinks to vomiting to one dude trying to open the door because he thought it was time to get off (wasn't nearly as dramatic as it sounds).

I'm in no way suggesting that the OP or anyone else posting here has been 'that guy' but I also don't blame the FA's for wanting to put some curbs on things.

johnden

Personally I consider drunks on a plane to be obnoxious and annoying.

Yes, there are many "quiet" drunks that I may never notice. I do notice the loud and boisterous ones that stumble into my lap. I wish they would simply not fly. I don't want to be the captive audience for their antics.

Whether or not a particular person is a good or bad drunk is irrelevant. As long as there are some bad drunks, better the FAs treat alcohol as a treat and not serve addicts who need copious quantities in a confined space and get peeved when they can't get it(hence the term "addict"). Kudos if they can do it with professionalism and a smile. 1 drink an hour sounds about right on a long flight, even that can quickly fall into the alcoholic category if it happens too often.

In a bar I don't mind, alcoholics/binge drinkers are expected and I choose to go there and participate.

Often1

Note that the operative words are "appears to be intoxicated".

The 1/hour "rule" is likely a rule of thumb from training. I've heard FA's say it pax before, so it's more than a fiction. But, it's not the published rule.

This is an area where carriers back their FA's to the hilt. You can pull a bus over to the curb and kick a drunk off, but it's a bit harder at FL 35 !

There is also no good way to determine whether one is dealing with the easy drunk who passes out or the belligerent drunk who causes a problem.

jhayes_1780

I was cut off once, but it was late in the flight.

However, on a recent trip to LAS the FA kept drowning me in Bloody Marys and wine. I actually counted 8 servings.... I cut myself off.

In the F & B industry, it is less about counting drinks (but that is part of it) and more about watching behaviors: are you eating? are you drinking water? are you pacing? are you disturbing those around you? are you running to the bathroom all the time? etc.

fastair

And driving or not is a red herring. Either one appears intoxicated or they don't. Sure, concern about driving safety is a good thing, but it's not pertinent beyond appearing intoxicated as far as FAA rules go. And that key word, "appears" is subjective to the individual server. A breathalyzer doesn't measure intoxication, it measures blood alcohol levels. The behavior of the subject, in the eye of the server is the litmus test. No hard and fast "1 drink per hour" is a fair test as each person metabolizes alcohol differently and the volume of blood in an 90 lb woman is different than in a 250 lb man. Serving them both at the rate of 1 drink/hr most likely will have different results on their appearance of intoxication over time. The same rule applies to boarding a passenger. No agent can board a psgr who "appears intoxicated". Again, that is very subjective to the agent based on customer behavior.

Steve_19

Out of curiosity OP what route was this? Int'l or domestic? and what cabin were you in?

I agree the FAs should monitor people for consumption (I don't like obnoxious drunks on the plane either) but seems a little funny she knew right away the exact timing of your last drink. Was she keeping tabs on the whole plane? Or were there only 3 people on board?

porciuscato

In forty-five years of flying I've only seen one person cut off. He was clearly drunk (though not obnoxiously so).

I sometime wish they would cut me off. Instead, they sometimes refill my glass while I'm not looking. Passing back a 3/4 full glass of wine always feels a bit awkward to me. So then I end up with a nasty headache.

BearX220

That is true, and it's infuriating -- more so than the often nonsensical "policies" they quote. How do rogue FAs convince themselves they won't be cross-checked when they make stuff up? Not just "regulations" about booze but the secret wireless-device detectors some claim to have, etc. It makes you respect them less, not more.

That's ridiculous, invasive, offensive, and reportable.