When flying, are customers still required to stop drinking alcohol?
Several years ago, wife and i flew to California. once we were in the air, drinks were served(alcohol). upon flying over one or two states, we were advised to stop drinking alcohol. all sales aboard stopped. was this becuase we were flying over a “dry” state? this may be an off-the-wall question, but no one gave us the answer onboard back then. so, what was with that?
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If that was the case, I doubt whether they would serve alcohol. As for not drinking when flying over a dry state, that would be as funny as obeying state speed limits while flying overhead. (Were you on the Enterprise and traveling back in time, or are there dry states that no one knows about?)
In the 1970s, Vern Miller, Kansas Attorney General, wanted to enforce Kansas’ liquor laws in the airplanes flying over the state. He is said to have stated, “Kansas goes all the way up, and Kansas goes all the way down.” I’m guessing it just never changed.
Seems a little ridiculous.
Like i said, this was an off-the-wall question that my wife recently asked me. since i did not have an answer, i posted it here. i agree. i can just see the air police stopping a 747 in flight at 550 mph to give sobriety tests to the everyone onboard. i am sorry now that i even asked it. thanks Darkscribe.
@john65pennington Like i said, this was an off-the-wall question that my wife recently asked me
They will sometimes stop serving liquor if they are expecting to run into turbulence – those drink carts can be dangerous if not secured. I expect that would be a more likely explanation – whether turbulence was actually experienced or not.
@DarkScribe I don’t think there are any dry states left, but there are many, many dry counties.
@Taciturnu but there are many, many dry counties.
Located between US states?
@DarkScribe Yes. It’s pretty much restricted to the politically far right areas of the country, including these parts of Texas.
Dry Counties as of November 2009
1. Andrews
2. Armstrong
3. Bailey
4. Borden
5. Collingsworth
6. Crosby
7. Delta
8. Fisher
9. Floyd
10. Franklin
11. Gaines
12. Hansford
13. Hemphill
14. Kent
15. Lynn
16. Martin
17. Morris
18. Motley
19. Ochiltree
20. Panola
21. Parmer
22. Roberts
23. Rusk
24. Sherman
25. Sterling
26. Throckmorton
27. Tyler
28. Wheeler
29. Wood
30. Yoakum
@Taciturnu Dry Counties as of November 2009…
Scary. I go back to Texas every now and then – have yet to find that I am not offered a drink. Still even if taken seriously, a county will hardly influence an interstate aircraft.
@Taciturnu Which county was Mayberry in ?? I recall Andy always said it was a dry county !
Taciturnu, i think you have hit on the answer. it was in the 70s and i believe we were flying over Kansas, which apparently was a dry state at that time. thanks. john
Considering how many planes get turned around for some drunk being on board, they should ban alcohol from all flights.
Might be better to just put everyone to sleep, load them like cargo, unload and wake them at destination. No drunks, terrorists, meals, screaming infants, etc. Just unconcious human cargo.
@DarkScribe I agree, it’s strange to hear some jurisdictions are either that far behind the times or that lazy to update their books. I’m not sure if that law (re: airspace over Kansas) ever made it off of them, but it definitely was in place at one point in time.
@john65pennington Glad to help. Can’t find anywhere whether it’s still current law, though.
@Pretty_Lilly Think it was one of the Carolinas… :)
Until 2005, Rockport, Mass., a scenic coastal village and popular tourist destination about 40 miles outside of Boston, was a dry town.
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