Recession Or Not, Airlines Still Serve Top Wines To Elite Passengers

November 23, 2009 at 3:10 PM | by Omri | 1 Comment

We poked fun at Qantas earlier this month for banning beer on their flights, so it's only fair we pass along this story about their in-flight drink leadership in the wine department. The Australian national airline leads the industry in serving fine vino to their first class and business class passengers, impressing even the palates of professional wine tasters. And taking the #1 slot isn't exactly easy, since the airline industry as a whole is stacked with corporations serving quality wines not just to elite customers but even in coach.

None of this will be news to Jaunted readers, who know that LAN Airlines sought out South America's solitary master wine sommelier to pick out their wine list. But the degree to which airlines are willing to go is still impressive, especially in an age of across-the-board cost cutting. Keep in mind that they're not getting directly reimbursed for any wine served in non-coach cabins, and now read this description of how far they're going to maintain customer loyalty:

USA TODAY gathered the wine lists of 33 airlines with U.S. flights and asked wine expert Dan Berger to evaluate them... Berger says he's 'astounded' by the wine lists of Qantas and Air New Zealand on flights to and from the USA. He ranks Qantas No. 1 and Air New Zealand No. 2 of the 33 airlines' wine lists. Among choices in premium class, Qantas offers 'an outstanding wine that consumers never see'... Berger calls Air New Zealand's list 'the best I've ever seen in coach.'... Berger says he "lost it" when he saw that Japan Air Lines' list for first-class passengers included 1997 Champagne Salon...'The lowest retail price you'll find is $220 a bottle.'

The writeup contains a bunch of details describing which wines on which lists were especially mindblowing, so oenophiles should definitely click through. We're always loathe to drink wine on overseas flights though; the hangovers at that altitude can be pray for sweet death atrocious and it's not like we're booking first class on transcontinental flights anyway. But if for some reason we found ourselves being offered $200 wine for free, we'd probably take a sip or two. Or ten.

[Photo: Jon Sullivan / Wiki Commons]

Related Stories:
· Airlines still offer fliers fine wine as a high-class amenity [USA Today]
· Wine Travel Coverage [Jaunted]
· Drinking Travel [Jaunted]

1 Comment

Return to » Recession Or Not, Airlines Still Serve Top Wines To Elite Passengers

GiannaW
Jaunted Member

recession
Recessions typically mean that businesses need to boost the number of people coming into the shop, so to speak, and that means promotional deals - take Whataburger, for instance. Whataburger, for those that don't know (to be fair, they are in only 10 states, basically Arizona east to Georgia) is a burger chain known for big burgers, and anyone who walks into one of their stores on Veterans Day decked out head to toe in orange can get free burgers. There are other promotional deals that are going to come up, of course, as they are great ways for businesses, franchises like Whataburger or otherwise, to get some instant money flowing into the store.

November 23, 2009 at 10:47 PM

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