A reader was flying American Airlines flight 3394 from Miami to Greenville-Spartanburg airport in South Carolina on Saturday when she may have had the worst drink ever served inflight to a passenger. She asked for sparkling wine, they didn’t have any, and so the flight attendant faked it giving her a mix of chardonnay and sparking water instead – telling her this was airline policy.
I never order sparkling wine or champagne on Delta domestically they serve in a can.
Generally when I’m on American in first domestic I will order something because they have the half bottles domestically from Miami to [Greenville-Spartanburg] and I [had two] glasses and then I asked for the third one and the flight attendant brought something that tasted bad.
It tasted terrible and she leaned over to me and she said they are told if they’re out of champagne to mix..Chardonnay and sparkling water.
The passenger was aghast, figuring that offering this – and lying about it! – was “the worst possible thing you could do to your customers.” Why lie? Just say we’re out! Several things about this whole thing strike me.
- There’s no way this is actually company policy – that the airline tells flight attendants to mix chardonnay and sparkling water whenever they’re out of sparkling wine. I do not even need to ask them. First, while I think the approach to wine American has taken in the past several years is terrible, it’s not that dumb. And second, if there were a service memo instructing flight attendants to do this, I can assume it would have been leaked ot me a long time ago.
- They’re sure going through a lot of sparkling wine on a 640-mile Envoy Air regional flight. Regardless, running out of sparkling wine on a regional flight is a provisioning problem.
- What proportions would you even use in mixing chardonnay and sparkling water, if you were trying to mirror bad sparkling wine?
- It’s going to give you a bad wine spritzer, right? Thin, less aroma, softer acidity and basically just a flat, washed out fruit profile. If it were an oaky chardonnay it’s going to be really weird because oak, butter, and vanilla aren’t going to survive dilution. You’ll get less integrated bubbles, no yeasty character, and more of a ‘something is off’ taste even than ‘this is cheap’.
- I think the lesson of a flight attendant serving carbonated water and chardonnay and calling it sparkling wine is – far from being an airline instruction – flight attendants learn their procedures as much from each other (galley gossip) as from their employer. And when they don’t go through recurring service training, just get sent memos, inconsistencies develop, including ones that are as nearly inexplicable as this one.
I never touch the stuff on board. I drink a lot of water. When I drink something else, it’s because I want to enjoy the flavor. Domestic flight wine selection doesn’t fall enough into that bucket, but I decided to give it a try on the flight I was on while writing this. It was a Bottega Brut, a $7 retail split and honestly not industrial swill.
Now, American Airlines serves $8 wine in international first class on a good day. Their business class champane is arguably the best among U.S. carriers, while United’s wine program is clearly best overall.
Delta, like American, invests only in its champagne – very much not premium! But nobody really does much with wine on standard domestic flights. Here’s how each approaches domestic bubbles:
- Delta serves Une Femme “The Betty” Sparkling Brut which customers generally seem to hate. I’ve never been interested in trying a glass (or can) even for the science. About the most positive review I found was “I don’t think it’s as bad as others claim! It just tastes like cider!” Another similar 3.5 review offered, “they got rid of the liner plastic smell and taste.”
- United’s Gambino Prosecco is certainly better.
- American doesn’t promote what it’s actually serving, at one point it was La Marca. 3 splits of that runs $15 at Target. And it was still better than what Delta serves. I wouldn’t actually order the Bottega Brut under normal circumstances – I’ll save myself for a nice bottle. But there was honestly nothing wrong with it.
To be clear, three glasses of Bottega Brut is more than I’d want. Some people want more than that! Here’s a passenger on an equally short Miami flight with a full bottle of wine out on their tray.
Years ago an Emirates flight attendant caused a worldwide stir when caught pouring champagne from a glass back into the bottle. And an American Airlines flight attendant was caught recycling orange juice in the galley. I want to believe these were pre-poured predeparture beverages that didn’t get taken (even so..).
After the pandemic, the American Airlines flight attendants union demanded a two-drink limit for passengers on each flight. I suppose if they only board enough for two drinks that’s one way to accomplish it, and this flight attendant was just going above and beyond!
ALCHEMY! WHY NOT WINE AND 7-UP? IT’S THE UNCOLA, AFTER ALL
I was disappointed to read that an American Airlines flight attendant would serve passengers adulterated beverages.
Meanwhile of all airlines…. Allegiant understands inflight service the best probably. They just rolled out their own custom wine “Altus Sol” with Sonoma Bespoke who does such independent things. It’s supposedly created to take into account the dry cabin air, higher altitude, etc.
“To perfect the blend, Allegiant and Sonoma Bespoke took to the skies on a special flight where airline and winery representatives conducted tasting sessions. The collaboration produced two standout wines: a Cabernet Sauvignon with extra notes of cigar-box aromas, and a crisp, fruit-forward Pinot Grigio. Both are earning early praise, with the Cabernet rated a 93 and the Pinot Grigio rated a 92 by renowned wine critic Jonathan Cristaldi. “
To give credit where credit is due, the one airline where I’ve generally had nice wine in first domestically is Alaska Airlines. They generally have a PNW red/white retailing in the $20-$30 range (have had some great Willamette Pinots…generally it is an entry level offering but still good) and a sparkling as well as great canned cocktails.
She should have just called it Weisswein gespritzt
Eh, most of you yokels couldn’t tell the difference anyway…
@Derek McGillicuddy — THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!
@1990
I have been told it pairs well with roast goose.
A cuvée
LOL. Some people need to get a life. I’d laugh and thank the flight attendant for at least being “creative.”
@gary I am tired of the negativity aimed at AA. Flyers in the know choose AA for all their premium travel.
American lost all the good people at corporate when US cheapy Air management took over. AA doesn’t care what is served to passengers just as long as it’s cheap! Food or beverage. But I agree. Many flights I’ve seen where flight attendants are cutting a passenger off from anymore drinks! Every flight. Wish they would limit all passengers to a 4 drink limit, no matter what! Drunks cause nothing but problems on flight too often
I mean yeah, the flight attendants should be honest about what they serve.
But there is reaction and overreaction. And there’s news articles about this, and people Very Upset. Sorry, but in today’s air travel climate, I can’t find myself worked up about the horror and indignity of someone having to endure a white wine spritzer.
Gary,
For some reason your feed continues to pop up on my screen. So, I read it and over the course of time, it appears to me you really have a bone to pick with a couple of airlines, specifically in this case, American Airlines. Okay, maybe they have some problems since being merged with USAir but every flight I’ve had on the airlines has been pretty good, on time, well behaved flight crews and passengers alike. Have you every flown on this airline for any substantial periods from which to make your candid observations.
So, why do you seem be so critical of this particular airline? Were you employed by the airline? Were you employed by any airline from which you derive your credentials or is this just journalistic repetoire?
Thank you for your time.
Surely, this particular can’t be all that bad.
God, who cares? Does this obvious alcoholic really think it’s normal to need that much champagne on such a short flight? She was clearly already drunk enough when she wrote that illiterate claptrap. WTH does that first sentence even mean?
People are just ridiculous.
Only reason I personally fly on any of the US-based airlines is because I live in the US. Where I most commonly fly out of, other than few odd-ball nonstop international flights operated by Air Canada (now seasonal) and Aer Lingus, I am forced to fly one of the US airlines. I travel to Japan frequently and the differences in all aspects (cabin condition, service, food, luggage handling, timeliness, etc.) between American/United and JAL/ANA are just mind-bogglingly staggering. Same with comparison between United and Swiss. Even Air Canada appears to be slightly better than United on a comparable itinerary.
I think the problem is not just with American Airlines.
It’s a small thing that becomes a big thing in the minds of frequent fliers who bring money into the operation. This kind of thing can’t happen. Give the customers what they want. If I notice our FAs are not doing their PDB or something else that’s expected and promised, I tell the FAs the only reason people are on us and not Spirit is bc they expect service, so make it happen.
Reminds me of the time I order Nachos Supreme. They ran out of sour cream and used mayonnaise without telling me. And yes… it was as disgusting as it sounds.