FAQ: Drinking alcohol on a Private Jet
How often do you serve wines and spirits on a Private Jet?
What type of wines and spirits are on a Private Jet?
How many type of glasses are available on board?
These were some of the questions I had before I started to work as VIP flight attendant on private jets.
Well… Let’s start form the beginning!
The most appreciated drink on a Private Jet is….
Water. Followed by coffe and coke/diet coke.
We do not serve alcohol on every flight, and when we serve it most probably will be champagne.
The consumption of alcohol is strictly related to the purpose of the flight.
If it’s a business meeting they might prefer to stay concentrated and focus, if it’s a group of people in their forties flying to Ibiza in the middle of the summer…. Well I am pretty sure they won’t drink chamomile!
Also, if the owner of the jet or the lead customer drinks, the others usually feel authorised to drink as well.
If he doesn’t then other customers won’t drink either.
As you can understand, there are many variables on a Private Jet that takes you to a wine service or not.
Also culture play a big role.
For example: Europeans are more into wines while Americans enjoy also cocktails.
For each drink its own glass
This is absolutely true and is very important.
Balloons, tumblers, high tumblers, flute…..
The right glass can enhance the flavour and the smell of the drink it contains.
This is applicable in every starred restaurant, but not on a Private Jet.
On board there isn’t space enough to keep several type of glasses, and usually you have maximum 4 types, but more probably 3.
Tumblers for water, soft drinks and spirits, wine glasses for red AND white wine, high tumblers for smoothies and juices and flutes for champagne.
The service we provide is VIP, but an aircraft is still an aircraft.
The space problem applies also on the size of the bottles: on a Gulfstream there is room enough to have regular bottles of wines and spirits, but on a Praetor 600 there isn’t.
Then you solve this issue with miniatures of spirits and small bottle of wine.
The wine selection
The wine selection is a bit limited -again, because of space – and it is decided by the management of the company or the owner of the jet.
If they particularly care, the wine list changes every 6 months or so.
More often it stays the same for several months, because the owner likes that wine, because he is not interested in changing it regularly or because of other reasons.
I flew once for an owner who owns vineyards in Italy.
Obviously, we had on board the jet his own wine, and this selection has never changed for years.
The selection of alcoholic drinks you can find on board usually includes champagne, champagne rose( same brand as the blanc), red wine (max 2 types) white wine (one type), beer (max 3 different usually the commercial brands) and spirits such as vodka, rum, tequila, whiskey, brandy, cognac, gin, sakè.
The quality is usually at very high level and we carry several spare bottles on board the jet.