I’m a flight attendant — here’s the secret to what we do with the champagne served in first class
Pop, pop. Fizz, fizz. Want to know what the secret to airplane champagne is?
Well, one flight attendant is spilling the tea — or the bubbly, as it were — on what she and her cloud cruising colleagues do with the left over champers first-class flyers don’t finish before landing.
“Everyone wanted to know what champagne is served on board in business class,” Adriana Kinch, an Emirates flight attendant, captioned a trending Instagram tell-all.
“Of course, it’s Mo?t & Chandon and Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut,” the brunette revealed to her over 12.3 million virtual viewers, adding that the swanky sips are, “always freshly opened and bubbly champagne is presented to the customers.”
However, once the pre-takeoff toasts have been made, the champagne glasses clinked and most of the goods stuff’s been guzzled down by ritzy trippers, there is often a little liquor left in the luxe bottles.
But it’s neither offered to the less fortunate flyers in coach nor is it shared amongst cabin crew members — although, they could probably use a swig or two after catering to persnickety passengers all day.
No, instead, the bougie booze gets dumped down the drain.
“At the end of every flight we pour away all the open bottles of champagne so it can’t be used for the next flight,” said Kinch, filming herself trashing the high-end hooch, which can cost between $50 to $140 per pop of the cork, according to the Veuve Clicquot site. “We open a new bottle just before serving it to the customer.”
But not to fret, frugal folk.
Receiving first-class treatment as an economy traveler is possible — but it’s thirsty work.
Kamila Jakubjakova, also an Emirates flight attendant, recently revealed several secrets for scoring privileged perks while seated in the back of the plane.
“Sometimes, if someone maybe didn’t get their preferred meal choice and then complained and made a big fuss about it, we would bring them a meal from business class instead to soften the blow,” said the skyway staffer.
She, too, showers pennywise vacationers with special goodies on special occasions.
“If I saw honeymooners, I would bring them some extra treats from business class,” said Jakubjakova. “Like, for example, a dessert or a glass of champagne, and try to make their flight more special, even if they’re flying economy.”
Sweet gestures, however, are a courtesy — not a certainty — when it comes to flight attendants.
And a sure-fire way to take oneself out of the running for first-class frills is being overly flirtatious, so warns in-flight expert Destanie Armstrong.
“There have been multiple times that men have hit on me thinking that I’m gonna move them to first class because they told me I was pretty,” said the flight attendant and content creator, 25.
“I literally dead – – s looked at him and was like, ‘Oh, I’m not going to take that compliment now because I know you’re just trying to use me for first class.’”