Tight with the booze in UC?

I'm taking my very first UC trip in a few days time. Some friends who generally use BA premium cabins took a VS trip in PE and UC about a year ago. They told me that on both flights the crew announced that alcohol would be provided up to a limit and not depending on how sober/drunk passengers appear to be.

Is this correct ie do they usually make this announcement and are they tight with the booze, even in UC?

Strikes me as a bit OTT - a cost saving measure or maybe VS have more than their fair share of passengers that kick-off after a G&T? I've never heard anything like this on a BA flight.

Not something I've ever experienced , quite the opposite in fact although they do say at the start of the flight that they can refuse to serve alcohol at any time based on behaviour and consumption ,

I have never experienced that in UC. Yes you get a standard warning before take-off and in economy they're known to ration alcohol on some routes in economy (notably LAS).

In UC though they've always proactively offered drinks - there's a bar after all.

I guess the only issue could be if it's a very thirsty flight they can run out as they only carry limited stocks. Particularly on return flights to the UK as the same stock has to cover both legs - for customs reasons they can't restock in the US.

Where are you flying to?

Never, ever, had an actual limit imposed on me in UC (Y is another matter)... If I'm being honest though, I'm past the point where I want to arrive somewhere tired, dehydrated and hung over. So I limit myself to no more than 8 or 9 glasses of wine :-)

Never, ever, had an actual limit imposed on me in UC (Y is another matter)... If I'm being honest though, I'm past the point where I want to arrive somewhere tired, dehydrated and hung over. So I limit myself to no more than 8 or 9 glasses of wine :-)

Lol
Just to add that make sure you have your fill in the CH

I'm flying to LAX. Believe me, I'm not planning on going silly with the booze, I was just surprised by this.

Must admit I am very surprised to hear that they sometimes run out of booze in UC. Given the price I'm paying for the ticket, I really didn't expect that to happen. Surely a rare occurrence?

I'm flying to LAX. Believe me, I'm not planning on going silly with the booze, I was just surprised by this.

Must admit I am very surprised to hear that they sometimes run out of booze in UC. Given the price I'm paying for the ticket, I really didn't expect that to happen. Surely a rare occurrence?

I've had specific wines run out, but never a blanket refusal of everything...

I'm flying to LAX. Believe me, I'm not planning on going silly with the booze, I was just surprised by this.

Must admit I am very surprised to hear that they sometimes run out of booze in UC. Given the price I'm paying for the ticket, I really didn't expect that to happen. Surely a rare occurrence?

I really wouldn't worry too much about it ,some people on here spend nearly entire flights camped at the bar drinking solidly ( not mentioning any names )

I think they are just saying if you've drunk a bottle of whisky, no matter how drunk or not you appear to be at that time they will stop serving. After all, alcohol takes time to have an effect and when someone is trollied it's too late...

I've never seen a limit imposed in UC on any route ( and LAX is one of my more frequent jaunts) and don't think they're "tight" whatsoever . I have however been on flights where they've run out of champagne ( and other drinks) due to the volume actually being consumed by those in the cabin
DL

Never had that on any flight with VA

I'm taking my very first UC trip in a few days time. Some friends who generally use BA premium cabins took a VS trip in PE and UC about a year ago. They told me that on both flights the crew announced that alcohol would be provided up to a limit and not depending on how sober/drunk passengers appear to be.

Is this correct ie do they usually make this announcement and are they tight with the booze, even in UC?

Strikes me as a bit OTT - a cost saving measure or maybe VS have more than their fair share of passengers that kick-off after a G&T? I've never heard anything like this on a BA flight.

I can let you know that from a personal point of view I have never, ever been refused a drink in UC. I have, been in PE on my way to LAS and been told that drinks will stop in the next 35 min due to lack of stock and that will be needed for the return leg. Whether that was true or not, I don't know. I'm not a massive drinker the flight was full and there did seem to be a lot of young "stag party" types back in Y.
I guess the question you have to ask yourself is are the drinks that important or is the flight, service, IFE and meals??

The only issue I have experienced and sadly more than once....from BGI, MCO and LAS in UC is that no champagne has been available on the return, as the outbound crew failed to preserve the inbound stock

I once also flew back from JFK and no gin or port were available......but think that was an isolated incident......

Across many flights in the last year, no issues experienced.

Jon

Hmm........

Well I suppose it depends how much you want to drink. A couple of stiff G&Ts and a couple of glasses of wine concerned CC on my last from Delhi- but discussed the situation with the UC cabin manager at the bar after a bit of a doze and she was very pleased to serve me more wine- but did express a concern that she thought I might drink all the way to London. I think any restriction is only for the good of you and your fellow pax.

[honey lamb]

There is one flight I took in UC which I would prefer to forget, if only I could remember it!

ON my flight to China they announced that alcohol could be restricted by consumption, not just inebriation. But there seemed to be no restrictions in UC. And I was on board!

The announcements are a generalized warning that enable the CC to refuse to serve either some people, or usually in the economy cabin to preserve stock for return flights. VS carries alcohol stock for both legs on the outbound flight, so if unexpectedly high consumption occurs on the outbound, they may shut the bar early.

However, this rarely, if ever happens in UC on any route. What can happen is perhaps the following:

- Someone is badly drunk and they cut down all drinks to a discreet service (seen this once).
- A particular wine / drink runs out which used to happen with champagne fairly regularly until someone gave the drinks stockist a kick up the a*** and this hasn't happened for a couple of years.
- Something upsets the loading prior to the flight causing a restriction.

With more than a couple of hundred flights in the last few years, I can say do not worry.

Never had a problem. Last trip in PE Mrs. D, who prefers fizz, asked and was given a couple of glasses with the meal, as well as the standard mini bottle that she didn't want.
Trip before that in Upper we were topped up with the pre-flight champers just by glancing at the empty flute.
While I like to think I don't drink to excess, maybe 4 glasses of wine total on a 9 hour flight, there was one passenger who was on the Scotch and was being topped up right through the flight, at least a dozen times.
Dick D

there was one passenger who was on the Scotch and was being topped up right through the flight, at least a dozen times.

JoeyC, come on down....

JoeyC, come on down....

Paul, what have you been watching on the television?

I'd say that while not really refusing, it's sometimes down to the service of some cabin staff.

For instance on a number of flights, where I sit quietly watching the IFE, and occasionally pop up for a glass of red, some staff will pour a finger into the glass. Others will pour it to a finger below the rim. I'd have to pop up to get refills 4-5 times on the former, but once on the later.

I've also found that ex heathrow was much more prone to be watching your consumption, even with wine (personally if anyone was knocking back the whisky in massive quantity, I'd be watching them as well, you can consume so much more of that before it hits you).

It's been better recently, though.

JoeyC, come on down....

Paul, what have you been watching on the television?

I thought it was the catch phrase of "The Price Is Right" (which has rarely troubled my on screen electro sprites). Is there something more...how can I put this...related to the higher channel numbers on my set top box?

On my recent flight out to NRT, towards the end of the flight I asked for a glass of champagne at the bar and there wasn't a bottle open. The CC asked if I'd mind having a glass of some other fizz, prosecco I think it might've been, as they had to conserve champagne stock for the inbound flight, and indicated they get a bit of a rollicking if they don't. I was happy to oblige. I'd say that during that 11 hour flight I'd no doubt consumed a bottle myself (1st glass before takeoff, plus the 3 glasses and 1 margarita in CH)

The UC cabin was full so no doubt there were plenty of other champagne drinkers. But otherwise, there were no restrictions on drinking that I was aware of.

Reading that back I think I might come over as an alcy!

On my recent flight out to NRT, towards the end of the flight I asked for a glass of champagne at the bar and there wasn't a bottle open. The CC asked if I'd mind having a glass of some other fizz, prosecco I think it might've been, as they had to conserve champagne stock for the inbound flight, and indicated they get a bit of a rollicking if they don't.

I quote from this.

A couple of hours out of Brisbane breakfast was served and, as is my want, I asked for a glass of champagne.

The CC returned and uttered my new most favourite words in the English language, “we have run out of the Moet, might I bring you a bottle of Dom Perignon from First”. “Oh, go on then, if you must” said I.

That was quite a special breakfast.....poached eggs on a plane FFS (how do they do that?) accompanied by my own bottle of Dom.

Good old Emirates!