Emirates to investigate champagne video

Emirates have confirmed they are investigating a video of a flight attendant appearing to thriftily pour champagne back into a bottle.

Russian passenger Yevgeny Kaymov posted footage of the incident online, saying he inadvertently recorded the strange behaviour of the flight attendant while on a business class flight to Dubai.

“I accidentally filmed this video, and didn't even notice this moment at the time, pouring unfinished champagne back into the bottle,” Mr Kaymov wrote on Instagram.

“Is that normal practice Emirates?”

The video appears to show a tray full of untouched glasses of champagne, which Emirates offer to all of its first and business class passengers after they board the aircraft.

An Emirates spokesperson said the actions of the flight attendant was not normal practice.

“Emirates always strives to provide the top quality service. Actions recorded on this video do not comply with our quality standards. We are currently investigating the incident,” a spokesperson said.

However, in a comment thread about the video on Reddit, a flight attendant gave one possible explanation for the action, saying it was probably not about reusing the champagne at all.

“I’m a flight attendant. I think what is going on here is that the attendant is probably pouring the unused champagne back in the bottle before take off to then dispose of once the plane takes off. We're not allowed to pour things out while we're on the ground,” the comment on Reddit read.