Refused Drink Service on Qantas

[clifford]

Sorry to hear you experienced this.

As others have said, I wouldn’t dwell on it too much. Could be a variety of things; perhaps you were profiled as someone who might cause trouble or be unable to handle much more, or could even be as simple as the FA made a mistake but once cut off they couldn’t take the decision back.

Have never been cut off myself and one particularly fond travel memory is an EK F flight where the Dom just kept flowing, but there have been instances where I wish a fellow passenger had been cut off! One in particular was a SQ SYD-SIN flight in Y where a passenger on his way to Cape Town had way too many wines and towards the end of the flight hit the little cup holder it was sitting in and I ended up with a full cup of red all over my shirt! FAs helped as much as they could but I had to listen to his “New World Order” rants for the remainder of the journey and then continue on looking (and smelling) like a drunk myself all the way to CMB! A complaint was duly made and a reasonably expensive apology hamper arrived at my door a few weeks later.

That's interesting.

Many years ago I was flying EK in Y from DXB to SIN (I think) in a middle row seat (just lucky I guess) and my seat neighbour (a lovely British older man) did seem to like the odd red wine. I was also drinking red (miini bottles of course), but at a moderate rate. My neighbor though did have a taste for it, and kept ordering me a bottle when he ordered one for himself. I didn't want to offend, so grudgingly went along with it. He was good company and it did go down reasonably well, but I was a bit the worse for wear when we got to our destination. The FA's though, didn't bat an eyelid when asked for another round.

Wouldn't happen on Qantas in a million years.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

As others have said, my primary hope is that it was handled discreetly, but beyond that, I wouldn't take it too personally (far easier said than done, especially in the moment).

A few years ago I had a fairly intensive surgery and couldn't drink for 6 months. About four months into that, I was rejected entry at a Sydney pub on a late Saturday afternoon for being "intoxicated." Funny story now; incredulous at the time (which is always ironic, as any sort of protest in those moments is likely only to reinforce the decision maker's opinion).

Sometimes they're very cautious, sometimes they're simply following RSA rules to the T, and sometimes they just miss.

 

[Pushka]

Malaysian airlines keeps the seat belt sign on for hours with no turbulence so asking for a hot drink results in them pointing to the sign. Last time I commented that the sign had been on for the majority of the 7 hour flight with no reason. They turned it off a couple of minutes later. And got a hot drink for breakfast. People had ignored it by using the toilets which will happen when they do that. They also hadn't served any food other than the satay sticks just after departure. Then nothing.

 

[JWILLS]

I had a really strange experience on a recent flight. I was travelling business class on an eight-hour leg. About three and a half hours in, I’d had two glasses of wine and two small whiskies. When the cabin crew came past, I politely asked for a top-up and a snack. He responded by saying he could only serve me water because I’d already had several whiskies.

To be honest, I was mortified. It made me feel like I’d been labelled an alcoholic. I calmly explained that I’d only had two whiskies and asked whether I seemed inebriated. He replied, “You don’t actually, but I can only go off the information I’ve been given.”

I didn’t get defensive, I smiled, thanked him, and said not to worry, I’d have some water and get some sleep instead.

I’ve been flying for years and have never had anything like that happen. What made it even stranger was that on the first leg of the journey, the flight attendant was proactively topping up my glass and offering different wines to try, most of which I declined.

The whole interaction left me feeling pretty deflated. Now I’m even wondering whether something has been noted on my Qantas profile about drinking. I’m probably overthinking it, but I needed to vent.

Had similar on a flight from Sydney to JNB - I was given lunch had a whiskey then a glass of wine three plus hours later asked for wine the woman flight attendant said “ you have had to much”
I then asked a male flight attendant no issues - I sent a email to Qantas in 2 days got a reply apologising but no benefits.

 

[Berlin]

Don’t know if that could have been the case here but I had it happen twice that some stranger in a seat next to me tried to blackmail me for drinking too much while I had only a can of beer or two. Both was in the US and crews get really strict on this as soon as they receive “a complaint”, no matter how true or not it might be.

It didn’t bother me too much and just enjoyed my beloved Diet Dr. Peppers instead but I knew in both cases who it was. I’ve heard from friends over there that it’s a very common (and well known) way to hit another passenger “from afar”, especially if someone identifies as politically aligned to the “opposite site” or follows a religion that you don’t approve of and so on. Some people are just nuts…

 

[trippin_the_rift]

......

That said, I accept as an Australian flying an Australian airline, there's a reason we can't have nice things. We do love to drink to excess.

It's only the Australian carriers/staff that seem to have a problem with...being karens in many situations.
Rules for everything that often don't make sense but some internal power-trip vibe they have to satisfy some shortcoming in their own minds.

By contrast, on a recent Emirates flight, the crew opened every bottle of wine they had for me (15+ bottles in F), and boy, did I have a great flight.

PR flight cple months ago, pre-takeoff drinks "Sir, for you we have champagne, or champange, which would you prefer?".

BA flight last week "Shall I keep the bubbles coming all flight?".

 

[Ansett Nostalgic]

It's only the Australian carriers/staff that seem to have a problem with...being karens in many situations.
Rules for everything that often don't make sense but some internal power-trip vibe they have to satisfy some shortcoming in their own minds.

By contrast, on a recent Emirates flight, the crew opened every bottle of wine they had for me (15+ bottles in F), and boy, did I have a great flight.

PR flight cple months ago, pre-takeoff drinks "Sir, for you we have champagne, or champange, which would you prefer?".

BA flight last week "Shall I keep the bubbles coming all flight?".

Another reason to fly carriers other than QF!

 

[Ade]

People had ignored it by using the toilets which will happen when they do that.

This - I have also noticed it on MH, 6E and sadly on QF too. On QF as latest as 01 Feb. On 6E, they don't seem to care whether the seatbelt sign is on/off.

 

[Pushka]

This - I have also noticed it on MH, 6E and sadly on QF too. On QF as latest as 01 Feb. On 6E, they don't seem to care whether the seatbelt sign is on/off.

The belt sign was on for the majority of the flight. Overnight from KL to Adelaide. Maybe six hours of seat belt. Not turbulent. No warnings. Heck I even got up.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Another reason to fly carriers other than QF!

For many folks, who fly internationally and retain status with QF, there will be some day be a realisation (every Australian/QF frequent flyer goes through this at some stage), that QF has many downfalls, has limited capacity into Australia and an average international network. This is compounded by folks surviving on double status credits to retain status - which is basically like QF giving you 'dole money' to not look at alternatives.

QF has it's place and many are well served and happy and that's all fine.
Personally, cutting someone off after a few drinks means you may as well be flying RB or SV or another dry carrier -- and those carriers tickets are usually 30-50% cheaper, and often with better service.

But you know, the world is a big place, with many, many options of who to fly with, where to live, eat, drink, who to talk with and who to dance with.
Fly with whoever treats you the best. For some folks, that will be Jetstar, and for others, it will be Cathay. For me, it's Emirates.

Happy drinking



*For the Karens; I did not drink all of these. Photo purposes only

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

Agree with above, along with the obvious note that everyone will have a different experience.

In my book, QF has consistently been on the boozier side of the balance of carriers I fly. I've always had to cut myself off with Qantas when it's been enough, not the other way around, as I've found QF crews in J consistently very happy to pour and pour until I've had to tell them to stop. Even in Y, I've found QF far more generous and willing to hand you another mini-bottle of wine or two than quite a few other carriers.

Some carriers are even looser, and many are definitely tighter and not just the obvious ones. I'd have had a lot harder time getting a good buzz on some East Asian carriers than QF with their little thimbles of wine, but of course, I've also had it even easier (BA, QR...).

Or perhaps I'm just a lightweight.

 

[AuSammy]

Malaysian airlines keeps the seat belt sign on for hours with no turbulence so asking for a hot drink results in them pointing to the sign. Last time I commented that the sign had been on for the majority of the 7 hour flight with no reason. They turned it off a couple of minutes later. And got a hot drink for breakfast. People had ignored it by using the toilets which will happen when they do that. They also hadn't served any food other than the satay sticks just after departure. Then nothing.

Similar experience on MH a couple years ago. Arrived home hungry (satays still frozen at centre was only food offered) and p....sed off at lack of any attempt at service in Business. Moved to last on list of carriers we will use to travel to Asia in the future.

 

[DejaBrew]

*For the Karens; I did not drink all of these. Photo purposes only

I reckon that photo is a bit sus @trippin_the_rift - the discombobulated head on that body is a dead giveaway that this image was AI-generated

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

Similar experience on MH a couple years ago. Arrived home hungry (satays still frozen at centre was only food offered) and p....sed off at lack of any attempt at service in Business. Moved to last on list of carriers we will use to travel to Asia in the future.

Unlike discussions around when enough booze is enough, this is completely unacceptable. I have always assumed a seatbelt sign left on for what is obviously too long is just the result of the pilots forgetting to turn it back off and crew not caring/noticing, but when crews aren't providing basic service, there's no excuse or explanation for the crew not pinging the pilots other than, "we don't feel like doing anything."