If you’ve ever watched a fellow passenger descend quietly into their third gin before you’ve even pushed back from the gate, you’ll understand why travellers are calling for a firmer grip on alcohol in the skies. A new Global Rescue Traveller Sentiment and Safety Survey, and yes, the Americans spell it that way, has found most travellers want airlines and airports to show a little more backbone when it comes to pouring drinks.
A solid 57% of surveyed travellers said airlines and airport bars should exercise more control over alcohol service. Women were a touch more inclined toward stronger oversight (59%) than men (56%), and American respondents were particularly keen, with 58% backing tighter regulation, slightly above the 55% of non-US travellers. For an industry accustomed to debate about everything from seat pitch to baggage fees, alcohol has quietly become one of the great unifiers.
What’s changed isn’t travellers’ desire for a quiet tipple that remains as enduring as the airport departure board — but their belief that trained staff should be entrusted to decide when someone’s had enough. According to the survey, 61% believe alcohol service should be left to the discretion of bartenders, flight attendants or the individual traveller, a noticeable rise from 53% back in December 2024.
In other words, people trust frontline staff to read the room or at least row 14 far more than they trust hard-and-fast rules. And that’s despite support for stricter enforcement growing while enthusiasm for rigid drink limits is ebbing.
Late last year, nearly one in five travellers (19%) backed a “one drink every 30 minutes” cap, and 17% wanted a “one drink per hour” rule. But heading into 2025, fewer people feel fixed limits are the way to go. There’s a growing sense that aviation isn’t a school canteen and flight attendants shouldn’t be reduced to human egg timers.
What passengers overwhelmingly want is clarity and authority for the staff tasked with keeping the cabin civil. A commanding 84% of respondents agreed that flight attendants and bartenders must have firm authority to refuse service when necessary. It’s hardly surprising: nobody wants to see a crew member forced into a polite staring contest with a slurring traveller determined to make “just one more” part of their personal in-flight tradition.
And with more incidents of unruly behaviour linked to excessive drinking, unions and advocacy groups have floated stricter concepts, including a two-drink maximum in economy class. The idea hasn’t taken flight with airlines, but it’s indeed circulating at altitude.
Currently, no major US airline enforces a numerical limit on alcoholic drinks. Federal rules already prevent passengers from consuming alcohol they’ve brought onboard, and cabin crew are empowered to pull service the moment someone appears intoxicated. American Airlines, Delta, United, Southwest, JetBlue and Alaska all forbid self-provided booze but keep their official drink limits unpublished. The system, in essence, runs on discretion, experience and a healthy dose of common sense.
Dan Richards, CEO of The Global Rescue Companies and a member of the US Travel and Tourism Advisory Board at the US Department of Commerce, says the public mood is unmistakable.
“Travelers clearly want airlines to take a stronger hand in managing alcohol service,” said Richards. “Giving crews the discretion and support to make responsible decisions benefits everyone onboard, passengers and staff alike.”
For an industry chasing smoother skies literally and figuratively, the message is clear: no one’s calling for the sky-high equivalent of prohibition, but passengers want reassurances that hospitality won’t trump basic safety. After all, a quiet flight is still the gold standard, and nobody wants turbulence caused by anything other than the weather.
Complete survey information is available at: https://www.globalrescue.com.
By My Thanh Pham – (c) 2025
Read Time: 3 minutes.
About the Writer
My Thanh Pham has worn more travel hats than most luggage racks could hold. After taking a course in travel and tourism, she found herself deep in the business of arranging itineraries across South-East Asia, matching travellers to temples, beaches, and the occasional night train, with a knack for making the complicated look easy.
Not content with life behind the desk, she joined a Vietnamese airline, juggling reservations one day and the frontline bustle of the airport the next. It gave her a ringside seat to the theatre of travel: the missed flights, the joyous reunions, and the endless stories that airports never fail to serve.
These days, My Thanh has swapped ticket stubs for a writer’s keyboard at Global Travel Media. Her words carry the same steady hand she once brought to bookings, guiding readers through the rich, unpredictable world of travel.
