By Matthew C. Keegan

I manage a highly regarded web community for corporate flight attendants and the subjects we discuss on our forum include: how to get hired, appropriate business attire, taxes and accounting, safety issues, and food service. The latter category can, at times, be a real hot button issue with opinions divurging and colliding frequently, even on the simplest matters. You see, corporate flight attendants really want to do everything perfectly -- the first time and every time -- as their passengers [clientele] include some of the most influential people in the world.

One such issue we've tackled over our forum's history has been the proper way to open champagne. Fortunately, we found the following tips by Dan Saltzstein in his piece[1] titled, Opening the Bottle. To give full credit to Mr. Saltzstein his tips are shared verbatim:

• Cut the foil (or "capsule") covering the cork, just below the bottom lip of the bottle's neck, and peel it off. Wipe the lip of the bottle.

• Insert the point of the screw into the cork, slightly off-center.

• Twist the screw all the way into the cork (don't go half-way or you're likely to end up with half a cork).

• Anchor the cork screw's lever (the little notch at the tip of the bottle opener) on the lip of the bottle, hold the neck of the bottle with one hand and lift the corkscrew with the other.

• Pull the cork, twisting gently.

Mr. Saltzstein also stressed that "having a towel handy in order to wipe off any accumulated moisture" was a good idea.

Thus, the veil of secrecy surrounding the methodology of opening champagne has been successfully demystified. Our community of corporate flight attendants can now turn our attention to other weighty matters.

[1] Saltzstein, Dan. Opening The Bottle, (The New York Times, September 30, 2002)