Flying with a hangover, the honest thread: why it is worse than you think, why senior crew do not, and the rule at your airline
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#1 Dublin, and I want to have the alcohol conversation properly because the crew room version is jokes and the HR version is a policy and neither is the truth. The truth is in between and it matters.
The rule at most airlines
A specific number of hours before sign on with no alcohol (eight, ten, twelve depending on the airline and the country), and a blood alcohol limit at sign on that is, in most jurisdictions, close to zero. Random testing exists at some airlines and is done at others when a colleague reports a concern. The consequence of failing is not a warning. It is the end.
Why it is worse than you think
Altitude. A hangover at sea level is unpleasant. A hangover at a cabin altitude of 8,000 feet with 8 percent humidity is dehydration on top of dehydration and it makes you slow, and slow is a safety issue in the one job where a slow person at a door matters.
The smell. Passengers can smell it. Colleagues can smell it. The purser can smell it. It is noticed and it goes on a mental file even when it does not go on a written one.
The pattern. The crew member who is hungover once is unlucky. The one who is hungover monthly is on a path that everyone on the crew can see and that ends, almost always, with a phone call from the base manager.
Why senior crew do not
Because they have watched it end careers. Because at 40 the hangover is two days. Because the layover with no drink turned out to be the layover with the good sleep and the good walk. And because the crew who lasted are the ones who worked this out early.
What I do
One drink on a layover, sometimes two, never on the night before a sign on. No drinks at all in the twelve hours. I am not a saint. I am someone who wants to still be doing this at 45.
The honest question
What is the rule at your airline, is it enforced, and how does the crew culture around drinking actually work where you are?
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#2 Fourteen years and I stopped drinking on layovers at 39 and I said it in another thread: best decision I have made in the job. The crew culture at my airline is a lot of drinking in the first three years and very little after five. The ones in between are the ones I worry about.
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#3 Ryanair, and the rule is strict and tested and known, and the crew culture is honest about it: the night before a 5am is dry. The night before a day off is not. The line is clear and it works.
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#4 Delta, and random testing is real and I have been tested twice in three years, both at sign on, both fine, both a reminder. The 'slow at a door' point is the one that should be in training. It is a safety rule with a social wrapper.
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#5 Qatar, and the rule in Doha is stricter than the airline's because the country's is, and the crew culture is quieter about it as a result. The crew who drink do it in the licensed places and carefully. The crew who do not, do not, and nobody minds either way.
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#7 Ex SAS, and I watched two careers end this way in 15 years and both were people who everyone liked and both had been hungover monthly for a year before the call came. The pattern is visible. Nobody says anything until it is too late. Say something.