Make The Most of Air Travel With These In-Flight Cocktails

Amateur mixologists are seeing what they can do in the air on TikTok and Instagram with a little pre-planning and some solid drink recipes. From pocket-sized bar kits to mixers in travel sized bottles, there’s a shocking amount of quality drinks that can be mixed high up on an airplane.

Don’t forget the ground rules of liquids, alcohol, and air travel though. For domestic flights, make sure your liquids follow the 3-1-1 rule: you can take in your carry-on item as many 3.4 ounce bottles, tubes, or packets of liquid that you can stuff into a single quart sized bag, with one bag per person. You should plan on working with the alcohol available for purchase on the plane (not the duty-free shop) as FAA regulations state that you may not drink your own alcohol on a commercial flight. Other than that, the sky is the limit, so to speak.

2. Gin, Jam and Tonic

Start with a gin and tonic. Add in a little bit of jam (those tiny pots from room service would be perfect) and you’ve got a trendy jam cocktail.

3. Flight Attendant Special

Apparently, just as Starbucks has a secret menu, so do some flight attendants. This pink drink is made by mixing cranberry juice, creamers and sugar packets between two cups and ice. This flight attendant also says you can add vodka (as long as you aren’t one of the crew, that is).

4. Watermelon Lime Martini

The glass and tiny cocktail shaker in this video are 100 percent extra, but you can pack a little mix of watermelon mint syrup and lime to go with your gin.

5. Old Fashioned

Bitters, simple syrup and a bit of cherry juice in your tiny carry-on bottle plus whiskey from the drink cart make a wicked Old Fashioned.

6. Canadian Whiskey, Lime and Bitters

Bring a tiny bottle of bitters on the plane to dress up their whiskey selection. Hopefully you can get a little wedge of lime, too!

7. Daiquiri

You don’t need to be on island time to whip up a daquiri. Bring little bottles of simple syrup and lime juice aboard and add in some rum for this refreshing little bevie.

8. Airplane Sangria

Sangria? Sure, and this time you don’t need to pack extra. Just mix together wine, Sprite and a touch of juice for a poor man's version of the cocktail. If they’re serving fruit salad on the plane, even better – throw some fruit in the cup too!

9. Gin Rickey

Gin, seltzer and lime juice are the only three ingredients in a Gin Rickey. You can probably get all of that onboard. Cheers!

10. Dirty Martini

For this drink, you’ll need a tiny bottle of olive juice and a little bit of celery bitters. Mix with vodka and hopefully you score a snack box with green olives to plunk into your drink.

Make The Most of Air Travel With These In-Flight Cocktail Recipes