Last night I flew from Washington National to Dallas Fort-Worth on American. There was very little unusual about the flight other than we were delayed on departure by a ground hold for ‘VIP aircraft movements at Andrews’.
We boarded on time. I was flying up front. Flight attendants offered predeparture beverages. Drinks were kept topped up.
As I was deplaining one of the pilots asked a flight attendant whether he could take a bottle of wine from the galley. She said sure, and he asked which galley cart he’d find it in? I scurried off the plane. I didn’t want to linger, appearing to be listening in on their little transaction. Besides I was a little bit in shock.
- I don’t know if he was terminating in Dallas for the night
- And I have no idea when his next flight would be
I’m not at all suggesting the pilot was going to drink too much or try to fly too quickly after drinking. In fact I assume he was not. For all I know he planned to (re-)gift the bottle to someone rather than drinking it himself. I didn’t notice on his uniform whether he was the captain or co-pilot.
Two years ago American had to apologize to its pilots over a photo of pilots mixing cocktails in its inflight magazine – the image of pilot drinking is that serious – and that’s even without getting into issues of stealing the bottle from the plane.
American boards Airbus A321 aircraft 35 minutes prior to departure on domestic flights. My connecting flight to Austin began boarding with an announcement for ConciergeKey members 39 minutes prior to departure. No one boarded. First class boarded 38 minutes out. The cabin crew wasn’t expecting us – no one was positioned at the door of the aircraft, they were all congregated in the back galley. One of them declared “I guess they can start boarding whenever they want!” Another night with the world’s largest airline.
I flew two years ago on a BA flight LHR-BOS on New Years Eve, got a opup to CW from WTP, and I saw one of the FAs stashed away a bottle of champagne for herself in the overhead bin right before landing. I gave her a wink and a nod when she saw I noticed, and she smiled back.
It shouldn’t be too hard for AA to identify the crewmember now; at least narrowing it down to two. Wonder how long it’ll take for them to get a phone call…
I’m not saying it’s right to take things off the plane, but if the pilot was taking it from the galley for a layover, this article can cost him his job. This is not news worthy. If he was drunk in between flights, the CREW IS REQUIRED TO REPORT THIS. Crew are Regular people, as well and he could have not wanted to pay $15 for a glass of wine at the hotel he’s staying at. Possibly, he didn’t want to be around people, considering the fact that their job (and FAs) consist of interacting with people for up to 15 hours/day. This is such a non issue and I’m sorry, but if this is what you’re writing about regarding airlines, it’s a really sad life for you. #stayinyourlane
More times than I can count, flight attendants have gifted me a full size bottle of unopened wine. I’ve even gotten a bottle of Dom off Emirates. So I guess they have their ways of fudging the numbers of what was consumed on board.
So? As long as you’re not a 79 year old FA, snagging stuff from the galley is perfectly acceptable.
A glass of red wine probably helps him unwind, relax and get a better nights sleep. I don’t have an issue with this.
“Your” pilot?! Suggest you look up possessive pronouns and blog again. You sound like that trump clown and “his” generals.
Don’t these people understand that stealing is not okay.
Maybe he was going to gift it to someone in the back that the airline screwed over.
This would probably be against their policy. As a former ramp employee who cleaned planes, we were not allowed to take alcohol (in most instances, when the plane overnighted, the liquor was locked up with one of those plastic ties, so it had to be broken to get into). While I doubt that any harm was done, could you imagine every single employee being allowed to take a bottle or two? That would cost the airline quite a bit of money…and the captain asking if it was ok and the FA saying it was doesn’t matter.
Approaching the weekend before Christmas, I think we can be generous and assume this was to take to a holiday party or to gift to someone (though if a pilot gifted me a bottle of wine I knew they carried on board I’d be a little miffed )
If you see it on a Tuesday in March…then we dig a little deeper.
No assumptions are acceptable at this point. Whether it is the holiday season and he was going to re-gift, or he was going to drink it himself, etc. furthermore, anybody that thinks that it is OK to drink a glass of red wine to help the pilot to unwind and to sleep, is wrong. There are FAR’s dictating the timing of when a crew member pilot or FA must stop drinking. I’m retired from on of the big 3 and pilots were 12 hrs prior and FA’s were 8 hours. Those guidelines could have changed in the last 10 years. Now factor in that the individual is stealing from the company. That has always been a sure fire way of getting fired.
This story makes me mildly irritated. The rule for pilots is 8 hours bottle to throttle.
But calling out this pilot when you have zero information is really in bad form.
You are creating a guilty until proven innocent scenario and possibly putting this persons job in jeopardy over your assumption that something nefarious “may” be going on.
Please stick to real news and not thinly veiled character assassination pieces.
@Jen – I am not even SUGGESTING the pilot was drinking let alone violating rules around drinking. He did appear to be stealing.
Asking is not stealing. Maybe violating a company policy — but you can’t even be sure of that either.
So many assumptions…..I still call bad form.
Sheesh
Shame on you Gary. A Pilot or FA taking booze off the aircraft is nothing new with the exception of doing it while passengers can see. DFW, as you know, is a hub. The pilot was probably going home or a hotel and too lazy to stop to purchase a bottle. For you to report his stupidity will only cause problems for him and the flight attendant. Note: I’m not an AA employee
Theft is theft.
What could the Flight Attendant possibly say…..
Is this site only for AA news now?
“Asking is not stealing” — that’s rich.
I’m going to ask my fellow employee tomorrow if I can take a box of office supplies home.
And why is this any of your business?
I have seen Pilots buy Pizza for .stranded passengers, do you know if he even received the bottle, or maybe just need something to write about,
Give your credit card referal fees back, and other under the table offers
God you’re boring… so what.
This is the last post I read of yours.
You’re unbelievably square, boring, uptight and lame.
nothing unusual about this.
common known fact for frequent flyers.
if “Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel ” were really true, he’d know. Why bring this up as if it were a “wow discovery”
just watch crew distributing hidden bottles in barf bags and you know it is for a fellow crew member or friend.
Keith..NOT NICE!!!
@Andy you’ve been leaving insulting comments for me and other commenters for 18 months, pretty unhappy generally, wondered why you’ve come back around to begin with
I can’t believe a pilot asked for a wine bottle. A real penny pincher he is…
@ keith
We can always count on the hateful left to bring in politics, and over the silliest little stuff.
The crew may have been surprised that were boarding prior to their contractual boarding times. Stop being a cunt and mind your own fucking business.
You sure are nosy! What difference does it make that he took a bottle of wine.
I really like this blog, and have used your credit card links before Mr. Leff, but was this post necessary? Pilots and FAs in general do saintly jobs – even AA ones – by dealing with the American public and not screaming. We have the most rude, slovenly, entitled and boisterous population found in the civilized world and this industry takes us into the skies and down again safely every day.
Now their biggest customers are reporting on a missing bottle of wine? I truly hope there are no repercussions for this crew. You are free to write as you wish Mr. Leff – and I do really enjoy most of your content – but posts like this make me reconsider utilizing your affiliate links. Good day to you sir.
Gary, you keep saying that you are not suggesting that he was intending to drink this and work or drink this too close to working……but……that is exactly what you are suggesting? Otherwise there is no reason for you to even include the two bullet points in the post.
Also, do you even know that this is an unopened bottle of wine? What makes the most sense to me is that this was a pilot done with his shift and an open bottle of wine at the end of the night with a bit left that SHOULD have been chucked anyway instead of re-used the following day (disregarding whatever AA’s policy on reusing open wine bottles may be). So instead of throw it in the trash, he took it home/to the hotel to enjoy it.
I really don’t understand why you care enough to write a post. I have no idea what wines American serves domestically, but even if it was a full bottle then he took something that retails for, what, $20?
I don’t have any problems with taking things off the plane. The front galley items are not inventoried, so it does not matter if the passengers drink or abstain from booze. It’s been written off for the flight when caterers loaded up the plane. I do have a problem if the crew is working while intoxicated.
First, let me say I’ve received free bottles of alcohol on flights. But I never thought it was “right” and always wondered what the airlines’ policies were. Likewise I’ve see FA’s take first class food to the back to consume. But it has to be that all of this “taking” is costing something. And who pays for it at the end of day? Customers. It’s an interesting issue and worth discussing. (I also would like to know who’s employers allow them to take things home or give them away. Or if you are an owner, would you permit the same.).
None of us can judge the pilot — until we know if it was red or white wine, and with which foods he paired it. 😉
Gary, snitches get stitches. 🙂
Someone said this not too long ago. We have become a society where we have opinions on situations with little knowledge about a scenario that does not apply to us at all.
@ Gary — What Sen said….This seems like a situation where perhaps you should MYOB.
First time I’ve read your blog and so far it’s pretty lame. Here’s a suggestion…Mind your own business.
Agree with Gene. And Gary, I’d be sure to take my own food and beverage onboard for all your upcoming AA flights if I were you. Perhaps this is a good time to switch to DL; but it really is a close knit industry and word travels fast.
Agree with @Sen and @Gene – mind your own business.
None of your business. By posting this article, you know exactly what you’re doing. Shame on you Gary.
Pilots are well paid; they can afford to pay for their own drinks rather than steal from their employer.
On the other hand, it’s entirely inappropriate for you to publish details in this way; you’re better than to engage in this kind of snoopy impertinence.
Was it a single-use bottle or a full-sized one? If the latter, he probably wouldn’t even drink it because someone could have jizzed in it..just like they can in the full-size shampoo bottles!
I was an FA based out of ORD and the employee parking lot was littered with so many squashed tiny airplane liquor bottles it was like walking over crunchy snow.
P.S. the liquor airlines charge you for in economy they get for free. Yes, they don’t pay a dime for it. The booze companies consider it advertising.
If that is the most of your worries, you entitle bastard have a good life.
All the horrible things happening in this world and this jack ass writes about this.
Shut your pie hole and get off the plane.
@Gary,
I think the message is clear here – next time simply clutch your pearls, purse your lips, scurry off the plane and remember to MYOB.
Sounds like another lazy journo who expects everything for free because he writes a blog or two and was pissed off that he never got the wine he thought he rightly deserved. Instead it was given to a hard working pilot. Did you have a bad experience recently with this company where you did not receive your free upgrade, or was the flight a little too late for your poorly booked connecting flight? If this is the best you can come up with please reconsider your contribution towards society.
This is what my 85 year old mom was always telling me: pilots and FAs take drinks from the galley to consume later. She almost always flies J or F and she was telling me this for years and I was always telling her that this would never happen. I think I should never argue with my mother!