Emirates Airlines Will Allegedly Hide Its Fancy Booze From Greedy Passengers

From everything I’ve heard about flying first class on Emirates, it’s a pretty dope experience. So dope that your cushy seat is basically in a pod, where you can freely sleep and drool without judgment; there’s a bathroom large enough to not only walk around in, but even to take a shower; and the bar is stocked with drinks so fancy that Dom Perignon might be the cheapest option. (Or at least, that’s what I’ve gleaned from YouTube videos and Instagram posts, because my bank account can’t even.)

First-class passengers might have gotten used to the bright, well-stocked bar at the front of the plane, but that view’s about to get a little less lavish. As Emirates told the travel site One Mile at a Time, the airline won’t be showing off its most bougie booze options any longer. Bottles like the $3,000 Hennessy Paradis Imperial and the $360 P2 2000 Dom Perignon won’t be displayed at the bar, because the airline is now looking to “to avoid high value items being removed”—a.k.a.stolen. Instead, they’ll be stocked in the safety of the bar cart.

While it’s not clear how often top-shelf bottles are actually nabbed by passengers, Ben Schlappig of One Mile at a Time wrote that he’s grabbed bottles off the shelf in the past (for photo purposes, of course), which suggests that it might not be too hard to nick a bottle and settle back into your pod, drunk off your spoils. Emirates didn’t provide comment on the frequency of alcohol theft, but a spokesperson told MUNCHIES, “The First Class display no longer features bottles as a fully stocked bar is already available at our iconic A380 onboard lounge.”

Since the airline launched its wine program in 2006, it’s spent over $690 million beefing up its selection of over 3.75 million bottles, making it a serious contender for the world’s top inflight wine programs. For some fliers, the drinks are surely a draw. But for those of us who have only ever flown coach, let’s be real: It’s barely a drop in the bucket compared to all the other amenities.