Sometimes, we just go through the motions. I’m guilty of it. And one United flight attendant was guilty of it when it came to my son.
My wife and son flew from Los Angeles to London last week. While performing the beverage service, a flight attendant asked my son what he wanted to drink. My wife ordered water for him. But instead of handing him a cup of water, the FA handed him a cup of white wine!
My wife caught it immediately. She and the FA laughed. The FA added, “I thought it was a little strange to give the kid white wine!”
But the FA refused to take it back, stating that there was no place on the beverage cart for it. My wife does not drink alcohol, but her seatmate ended up taking it.
I’m not going to provide any more details about the FA herself. The point is not to get him in trouble. Rather, the point is to underscore that sometimes we all just go through the motions.
I laughed when my wife told me the story. And one one sense, a glass of white wine may have helped the little fellow to fall asleep more quickly. He ended up sleeping for five hours, but it took four hours to fall asleep. It didn’t help that that the lady who ended up taking “my” seat (read here for more…) and drinking my son’s white wine had too much to drink and kept my son up with her bright mobile phone screen for several hours.
But I digress…
CONCLUSION
No harm, no foul. I may complain to United that my son’s children’s meal was not loaded, but I won’t complain about this.
We all have days in which we just go through the motions. For the FA onboard, this was one of those days.
I can only imagine the poor kid being introduced to wine by sipping whatever cheap crap UA serves on their flights. It would ruin his taste for wine for life.
You believe that fake? Of course they take it back when serving something wrong.
Sorry but I did not understand your reply to my post. I meant that UA serves very cheap and bad quality wine so IF the kid had sipped the glass he would have a bad taste fro wine for the rest of his life. You did not follow my joke.
I had a bartender at a family beach bar/restaurant serve my then 4 year old daughter an adult strawberry daiquiri instead of virgin (which I ordered), then chase me down as if I had ordered it for her that way. Moral of the story, pay attention to what drink is being made and served to your child. I didn’t and could have had a drunk preschooler on my hands.
There’s no foul in accidentally giving the wine to the kid: mistakes happen, as you say. That said, refusing to take it back is obnoxious. Why should the passenger have to deal with the FA’s mistake? How hard would it be for the FA to take 10 seconds to take the glass of wine and pour it out back at the galley. I presume you were flying in business class too. Just goes to the reinforce the perception that United FAs lack proactivity and a customer service centered culture.
I agree, Justin.
This FA ruined an American tradition, you are supposed to give your son a beer when he turns 18 and he’s supposed to pretend that this it the first beer he has ever had.
I have to say, giving white wine to a kid is funny when you catch it, but I have a feeling it would not be funny if your son had drank it. It’s the kind of thing that could happen to anyone, but the FA really should have noticed that. I can just imagine the emergency diversion story that could arise out of that mistake.
@ Matthew — Most importantly, did your son like the wine?
Too many people trying to monetize their travels. Just get on the plane, sit down, read a book, have a meal, take a nap, arrive. and get off the plane.
Finding offence or objection at every little bump in one’s plane ride is suggests a loss of perspective on what’s meaningful in life.
Thank you.
Seriously…? Do you honestly think this is a big deal?
Did you read the article, or just get on your high horse after reading the headline?
Probably one sip would have been enough to turn him off booze for many years to come ( as happened to me at about the age of 5 ,when I thought it would be cool to have a swig from an unattended bottle of Gin).
United Airlines, now endorsed by Kevin Spacey, Jared Fogle, and Bryan Singer.
/s
Thank you.
That was a close one. I don’t have kids but I was dealing with a drunk cocker spaniel after she finished a friends vodka sprite while we were playing Fifa, a few months back.
You have a drunk Cocker Spaniel that plays FIFA? That’s pretty darn awesome.
This is the dumbest article I’ve read… who cares if they almost served him wine. Like you said, your wife caught it before anything happened. Waste of space article.
well, that is your side of the story…
My wife’s side. I wasn’t on the flight, just repeating what she told me.
Meanwhile on Air France this would be perfectly normal and no French parent would expect anything other!
Fine story except accusing the seatmate of drinking too much.
And ‘bright mobile phone screen’? A pax can and should use their quiet device when they please. We don’t all want to sleep at the same time.
It’s part of being on an airplane.
Sounds like the seatmate was good company who handled the surprise of being seated next to a small child well.