Is it illegal to drink your own alcohol on a plane?

[iamthewalrus_3]

Aren’t a lot of people missing the big picture, here?

Scotch should be served neat.

I’ve definitely drunk my own booze on airplanes and never knew it was against the rules, although I did so discreetly, and before the 3 oz. liquid restriction was in place.

[mnemosyne]

It appears that liquor licensing is a provincial/state level thing; airlines need permission to buy or sell alcohol in each jurisdiction (they buy in the local jurisdiction before loading supplies onto a plane before each trip).

Here’s a suggestive bit of the (possibly outdated version) Ontario liquor control act, which refers to the detention of aircraft if the carriers are found to contravene the various regulations:

Detention of vehicles, etc.

44.1 (1) For any purpose relating to the administration and enforcement of this Act, the Liquor Control Act and their regulations, any person authorized by the Registrar who has reasonable and probable grounds to believe that a vehicle, a vessel, railway equipment on rails or an aircraft contains evidence of a contravention of any of those Acts and regulations,

(a) may, without warrant, stop and detain the vehicle, vessel, equipment or aircraft;

(b) may examine its contents, including any cargo, manifests, records, accounts, vouchers, papers or other documents that may afford evidence as to the contravention; and

(c) subject to subsection (2), may seize and take away any of the manifests, records, accounts, vouchers, papers or other documents and retain them until they are produced in a court proceeding. 1994, c. 18, s. 5 (4); 2006, c. 34, s. 16 (52).

[mnemosyne]

A bit more research:

Manitobastates:

Carriage of liquor on train

116(3) A person who is in lawful possession of liquor may transport or carry it in a train, bus, or aircraft if it is enclosed in, and remains in, his personal baggage.

So in at least that jurisdiction, it is illegal to drink your own alcohol on a plane.

Texas’ law seems to be here. I would think that if it is otherwise illegal to consume alcohol bought off the premises, then it is also illegal to do so on a plane, but I’m not inclined to read the whole thing to check.

[BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed]

@Sparky812

So I looked it up, Canadian Aviation Regulations state…

…2.5 per cent proof spirits.

What the heck is 2.5% proof? Is it 1.25% ABV?

[Sparky812]

@rogerbox

“(a) No person may drink any alcoholic beverage aboard an aircraft unless the certificate holder operating the aircraft has served that beverage to him.”

It says nothing about where the alcohol came from, only that you may only drink it if it is SERVED to you by the certificate holder (steward). Since we know it is legal to bring liquor on board sealed, the above sentence makes it seem that it is okay to give your sealed alcohol to the steward and have them serve it to you.

Nope.
The certificate holder operating the aircraftis the airline not the steward.

Secondly, they don't mean "served" in the sense of physically pouring you a drink they mean served as being provided on their menu.

[StrangerThanFiction]

rogerbox nailed it. 14 CFR §121.525 (which he quoted) is the regulation dealing with consumption of alcohol on board airliners. The spirit of the regulation (sorry) is that an employee of the aircraft operator needs to serve you your drinks so they have the ability to cut you off before you become a problem. It is a violation of this federal regulation to bring your own alcohol and serve yourself or others. As mentioned up thread, you can drink your own booze if you can convince a flight attendant to serve it to you. I would venture a guess that most airlines have policies prohibiting this so that those who want to get sauced have to buy a bunch of $7 beers.

Charter companies operate under a different set of regulations, but the rule dealing with passenger consumption of alcoholic beverages is very similar. Many smaller airplanes don’t have flight attendants, so this can be a tricky one to comply with. In practice, any alcohol the passengers bring on board will be stowed by the flight crew before they go forward to start the engines. This exchange of custody is enough to satisfy the letter of the law, but it doesn’t exactly prevent the passengers from getting schnockered if they want to.

[md2000]

@mnemosyne

It appears that liquor licensing is a provincial/state level thing; airlines need permission to buy or sell alcohol in each jurisdiction (they buy in the local jurisdiction before loading supplies onto a plane before each trip).

Here’s a suggestive bit of the (possibly outdated version) Ontario liquor control act, which refers to the detention of aircraft if the carriers are found to contravene the various regulations:

As I recall, there was an episode in the 1970’s when Air Canada ran afoul of Ontario liquor laws and had their license pulled. Flights had to refrain from serving alcohol in Ontario airspace for a few months.

Of course, if you have duty-free, you will likely have evry large bottles of consumables; I’m surprised the law is not more explicit about this situation. But then, the jurisdiction issue becomes even more interesting on international flights.

[Folacin]

@StrangerThanFiction

It is a violation of this federal regulation to bring your own alcohol and serve yourself or others. As mentioned up thread, you can drink your own booze if you can convince a flight attendant to serve it to you. I would venture a guess that most airlines have policies prohibiting this so that those who want to get sauced have to buy a bunch of $7 beers.

On a charter vacation flight (FunJet maybe?) back from Jamaica ca. 1986, the flight attendants announced that it was illegal to pour your own drinks. They were happy, however, to pour your duty-free rum into the glasses they provided.

[Anne_Neville]

@StrangerThanFiction

I would venture a guess that most airlines have policies prohibiting this so that those who want to get sauced have to buy a bunch of $7 beers.

Drunken passengers have been involved in a number of air rage incidents. The flight crew presumably don’t want to have to deal with an angry drunk in a situation where leaving the scene is difficult (would you?). If they let passengers bring their own alcohol on board and serve it to themselves, they don’t have the option of cutting off someone who’s getting drunk and belligerent.

[rogerbox]

@Sparky812

Nope.
Secondly, they don’t mean “served” in the sense of physically pouring you a drink they mean served as being provided on their menu.

How do you know this exactly? And it isn’t “their” menu since the law is not written by airlines.

[StrangerThanFiction]

@Anne_Neville

Drunken passengers have been involved in a number of air rage incidents. The flight crew presumably don’t want to have to deal with an angry drunk in a situation where leaving the scene is difficult (would you?). If they let passengers bring their own alcohol on board and serve it to themselves, they don’t have the option of cutting off someone who’s getting drunk and belligerent.

I agree with you 100%, and the intent of the law is most certainly to prevent such situations. The point I was trying to make is that I don’t believe most airlines will serve your own liquor to you, and that policy has nothing to do with legality. Rather, I think it is mostly due to the fact that the airlines have a combination of a very captive audience and liquor for sale at inflated prices. Folacin provided an anecdote that would seem to indicate that some carriers will serve your own alcohol to you. I’d be interested to know what Delta or British Airways has to say about it.

@Sparky812

Secondly, they don’t mean “served” in the sense of physically pouring you a drink they mean served as being provided on their menu.

I’m pretty sure physically handing you a drink is exactly what the term means in this context. The regulation is about controlling the amount of alcohol a passenger consumes; the FAA couldn’t care less who brought it on board.

[Sparky812]

@StrangerThanFiction

I’m pretty sure physically handing you a drink is exactly what the term means in this context. The regulation is about controlling the amount of alcohol a passenger consumes; the FAA couldn’t care less who brought it on board.

Yes, I agree, my wording was off. Serving it to you is part of that the broader definition but I didn’t want to exclude flights with no wait staff and self-serve policies.

[Scougs]

I’m in the UK, not the US, but most airlines seem to have a written rule that “only alcohol purchased on board may be consumed on board” (where you purchase it) or “only alcohol served by the cabin crew may be consumed on board” (where it’s complimentary.

I’ve always assumed this is the case for all airlines, and is specifically to stop drunkenness and associated behaviour. I absolutely dread to picture your average charter flight to Manchester from the Costa Del Sol if people could buy a litre of spirits at the airport and crack it open on the flight.

I have come across one exception, and I was very glad I did a bit of research on the airline prior to flying with them: EgyptAir. It’s a dry airline - they don’t provide or sell any alcohol on board, but don’t mind if you bring your own. It was in the days before the 100ml rule, so a nice bottle of champagne went with us for the flight. The cabin crew provided us with glasses and ice. This was Heathrow to Cairo - I wonder what they do if there are actual laws in place preventing this?

[medstar]

What would stop someone from dying a small amount of vodka a pretty pink color and surreptitiously adding it to their purchased soft drink? I’d imagine that if you didn’t call undue attention to yourself, you could probably get away with this.

[Wheelz]

@medstar

What would stop someone from dying a small amount of vodka a pretty pink color and surreptitiously adding it to their purchased soft drink? I’d imagine that if you didn’t call undue attention to yourself, you could probably get away with this.

While I’d hate for this to turn into a “how to get away with something illegal” thread, I can say that in my experience – not realizing I was doing anything wrong – when I’ve discreetly poured a shot of vodka into a cup of Sprite I have never once been called out for it. When I poured a bit of scotch, which has a stronger aroma, and my wife handed the bottles to the Flight Attendant, we got a very mild verbal rebuke. So it doesn’t seem as if iron-fisted enforcement of this rule is a huge priority.

I might add that a have never been intoxicated or confrontational on a plane, which I’m sure would make a huge difference. And, now that I know it’s a no-no, I’m not sure how far I’d like to continue to test the airlines’ tolerance of scofflaws like me.

[amulree]

@Wheelz

On a domestic flight last night, my wife and I finished the ice water we’d been served, then we each poured a 50ml serving of scotch (which my wife had carried on in her purse) over the leftover ice.

A flight attendant came down the aisle collecting trash, and as my wife deposited the two tiny bottles he said to her, “You know you’re not allowed to bring your own booze on a plane, it’s illegal.” To which she replied, “No, I didn’t know that.” The FA said, “Well, you’ll know for next time,” and went on his way. At no time, however, did he or anybody else try to take our drinks away or stop us from consuming them. We’ve done this plenty of times before and never tried to hide it, and nobody has said a word about it until this time.

So I decided to check it out, and the TSA website says this: Not a word, though, about actually drinking said alcohol on board.

Additional googling found mostly the same information on various sites, including some of the airlines’ own, but the question about drinking carried-on liquor remains mostly unanswered. The only page I found that seems to back up the FA’s assertion was on something called eHow.com:You’ll surely forgive me if I don’t accept this site I’d never heard of as the final word on the subject. Seems to me that if this is indeed illegal, nobody is going out of their way to tell people about this or to enforce it. Anybody know the real Straight Dope?

i worked for british airways and we could not stop people drinking their on alcohol we just had to stop them getting too drunk and advised them to be discreet I dont imagine BA were not following rules set down

[bob_2]

As an aside - Some cruise lines have a rule prohibiting passengers from bringing alcohol on board. Some allow beer and some wine but not spirits. The cruise websites have examples of several ways of ‘smuggling’ booze on board. This is done for no other reason than to protect their own sales.

Anything they find that’s not permitted is confiscated and returned at voyage end. Something to check before you stock up for your next cruise.

[CanTak3]

I was just on a Delta flight last week and I can confirm they do not allow alcohol to be brought on board. It stated this in their seat pamphlet. I doubt I would be violating an actual law mind you; just the company policy.

[Chihuahua]

It has been my long experience that the law, a company’s policy, and what the employee actually heard on orientation day are three completely different and often unrelated things.

[rvrchtr]

Federal Aviation Regulation 135.121 (a) below is the regulation for Charter aircraft and there is a 121 Airline reg that states the same.

135.121 Alcoholic beverages.
(a) No person may drink any alcoholic beverage aboard an aircraft unless the certificate holder operating the aircraft has served that beverage.
(b) No certificate holder may serve any alcoholic beverage to any person aboard its aircraft if that person appears to be intoxicated.
© No certificate holder may allow any person to board any of its aircraft if that person appears to be intoxicated.