Woman Finally Flies First Class With Champagne but It Doesn't Go As Planned

A video of a woman experiencing "crazy turbulence" on a first class flight with Emirates has gone viral on TikTok, where it has 1.4 million views at the time of writing.

The clip was posted on September 14 by Cameron Biafore (@catching.cameron), who hosts luxury networking/adventure trips around the world, the 30-year-old TikTok user based in Dubai told Newsweek.

A message overlaid on the clip says: "POV [point of view]: You are flying first class with Emirates for the first time and the whole flight experiences crazy turbulence but you are living your best life...drinking free flow Dom Perignon [the champagne drink brand]."

The shaky camera footage shows a woman in a plane seat, sipping a drink of what appears to be a glass of champagne. The drink is seen swirling around inside the glass as the plane appears to be shaking from the turbulence.

The post comes as clear-air turbulence (CAT) was found to have increased in the last 40 years, according to a June 2023 study published in Geophysical Research Letters.

CAT is "projected to intensify in response to future climate change," the study said.

The largest increases were reported over the U.S. and North Atlantic, both of which are busy flight regions. "Severe-or-greater CAT increased the most, becoming 55 percent more frequent in 2020 than 1979," according to the study.

Turbulence is among the reasons why people may have a fear of flying, which is prevalent among around 10 to 40 percent of the industrialized world, according to a June 2021 study in Frontiers in Psychology.

What Causes Turbulence?

Turbulence is defined as "air movement that normally cannot be seen and often occurs unexpectedly," according to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Turbulence can be created by different conditions, including atmospheric pressure, jet streams, air around mountains, cold or warm weather fronts or thunderstorms. Turbulence can also occur even when the sky seems clear, explains the FAA.

According to the federal body: "While turbulence is normal and happens often, it can be dangerous. Its bumpy ride can cause passengers who are not wearing their seat belts to be thrown from their seats without warning."

The FAA advises that "passengers can easily prevent injuries from unexpected turbulence by keeping their seat belt buckled at all times."

Turbulence 'Every Time on This Route'

A caption posted with the viral TikTok video simply reads: "Living my best life."

According to a later comment, the turbulence took place while traveling over the Bay of Bengal. Several others could relate to the passenger's experience, saying turbulence appears to happen "every time" on this specific route.

Zac said: "Why every time on this route between Dubai and Thailand over the Bay of Bengal, it's terrible for turbulence. I dread it." The original poster replied: "Every time."

Josh said: "honestly every time over the bay of Bengal..."

User nat wrote: "I thought I was the only one that always experienced that turbulence that route but I guess it's common."

Steeeens noted: "Me in first class turbulence: Chiller than a cucumber. Me in economy turbulence: texting everyone I love my final goodbyes, like why." The original poster replied: "Hahaha why is this so accurate."

Valery said: "I could never be so relaxed during turbulence LoL [laugh out loud]."

User @jessottey wrote: "I'd be crying and sipping my champs [champagne]." The original poster said: "I definitely went through a whole bottle."

User errffu33duu wrote: "I sweat so much during turbulence cause I'm very scared. the whole thing is torture."

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