Does Air India serve unlimited alcohol on flights?

The liquor policy of Air India is in the news after two incidents of drunken misbehaviour were reported from its flights in November 2022 and December 2022. Just how much alcohol does Air India serve on its flights? Does it serve unlimited liquor? The airline has now clarified its in-flight alcohol policy.

There is a common (mis)conception that you are served unlimited alcohol on Air India flights in international routes. While passengers would agree that Air India serves a lot more liquor on an Economy ticket as compared to its counterparts on the same route, there was never any clarity about just how much liquor it serves on flights.

Now, Air India has provided some clarity on how much liquor it serves on its domestic and international routes.

On domestic flights:

• Air India does not serve any alcohol on its domestic routes in India.

On international flights:

• Air India does serve complimentary liquor on its long-haul, international flights, but it is not unlimited.
• The quota of alcohol is determined by the class the passenger is travelling on. On Economy, it is lesser than on Business and First class.
• The airline, like every other airline, also operates on cabin crew discretion as to how much alcohol is to be served to a passenger.

Air India officials told India Today, "Air India doesn't serve unlimited alcohol to passengers on long-haul flights. There is a quota, which is determined by the passenger's class of travel. The airline is currently revisiting the policy after last week's public statement from CEO Wilson Campbell."

Air India's liquor guidelines say the following:

• Passengers are to be served liquor at their seat only and the cabin crew is to discourage the passenger from drinking their own liquor on board.
• Passengers are discouraged from going to the galley and serving themselves.
• The drinks allowed at the seat at one time are: one 12-ounce (or 350-ml) bottle of beer, one 30-ml glass of wine or champagne, one miniature bottle of liquor.
• On a flight that is under four hours in duration, not more than two drinks are allowed to be served to a passenger.
• On flights longer than 4 hours, one additional drink per extra hour of flying is allowed.
• HOWEVER: Once three drinks are served to a passenger, there must be a break of at least three hours before any additional drinks are served.
• These restrictions do not apply to Business class passengers, but the crew's discretion comes into play here too.
• When the passenger is inebriated or intoxicated -- in layman terms, drunk -- the cabin crew is supposed to stop the service of liquor to the person.
• The cabin supervisor needs to be informed if a passenger is drunk.

ALSO: "In such an event, and as abundant precaution, the duty free liquor, which the passenger may have with them, should be removed for safe custody and restored to the passenger at the destination."

The Air India horror stories: Air India is currently battling two incidents of drunken misbehaviour on its international flights.

The first took place on November 26, 2022 onboard an Air India flight from New York to Mumbai, where a man named Shankar Mishra allegedly urinated on a fellow passenger, a 70-year-old woman. The woman wrote a letter to Tata Chairperson N Chandrasekaran complaining about the incident. Mishra was drunk and the cabin crew's handling of the situation was inept.

Shankar Mishra has now been sacked by Wells Fargo, the company he was employed with; and Delhi Police arrested him from Bengaluru on January 7. He is currently in 14-day judicial custody.

The second case was reported close on the heels of the first incident. On an Air India flight from Paris to Delhi on December 6, 2022, a drunk man allegedly urinated on the blanket of a female co-passenger. He was apprehended by CISF officials at the airport upon landing, but later let go. The woman on whose seat this man urinated, was unwilling to file a complaint.

ALSO SEE: The worst flight fights of 2022

ALSO READ: I used Digi Yatra at Delhi airport Terminal 3 and it was a breeze