American Airlines serves up happy hour at 30,000 feet

Drinking on airplanes doesn’t have a lot of cache these days. It’s stadium prices and a fairly strict two-drink maximum. You’re not flying to party — you’re simply a party on board an airplane.

So I got a little revved up when I saw that American Airlines would be introducing a happy-hour promotion in December. I might as well have left my enthusiasm in the hangar. The terms of the happy hour are such that your happiness may be extended only slightly in participating markets during a very short window.