Miss Manners: We didn’t realize we drank all the champagne for the whole plane

DEAR MISS MANNERS: My wife and I had an amazing and intimate honeymoon in the Leeward Islands.

Miss Manners: I’ve done this for years as a teacher, but maybe it’s an absurd tradition?

Miss Manners: I hate their dinnertime conversation but I can’t just find new friends

Miss Manners: I was called a thief for getting fizzy water without paying

Miss Manners: These women wore white gowns to my wedding, and people were talking

Miss Manners: His driving was terrifying. He responded poorly when I asked him to slow down.

In the spirit of the occasion, we booked first-class tickets for our flights.

During boarding for the return leg, the flight attendant asked if we would like anything to drink. We requested champagne to commemorate a perfect week spent together. The attendant stated that they only had enough champagne for us each to order a glass, and that there wouldn’t be any more for the flight.

We took this to mean that each passenger on this flight could only order champagne once, so our reply to the flight attendant was, “That’s fine, we’ll take it now, thank you!”

However, after she served us the champagne, the couple behind us asked her for some — to which the flight attendant replied that we had finished the champagne for the entire flight!

In the moment, we had misunderstood her, but it got me thinking: If we’d known no one else would get champagne but us, would it have been poor manners to take the last of it? Certainly that is the case in a social setting, but is it still the case on a commercial flight?

GENTLE READER: The rule you refer to is a social rule, as distinct from a business rule. And a meal at a restaurant — and, by extension, a meal on an airplane, even in first class — is a commercial transaction.

You would, therefore, defer to another couple you were traveling with, but not to the people a few rows back, whom you have never met.

In your case, you did no wrong — although it seems worth mentioning that the flight attendant blaming you for the lack of champagne was hardly first-class treatment.

And while Miss Manners realizes you were probably borrowing adjectives from the resort’s brochure when you described your honeymoon as “amazing” and “intimate,” she thinks that next time, you might just leave it at “amazing.”

DEAR MISS MANNERS: Are the rules about discussing religion in social settings somewhat relaxed when someone volunteers that they (or their family) are clergy?

For instance, I’d never ask someone I just met about their denomination, or where they attend religious services. But most innocuous follow-up questions about a clergy member’s calling would reveal that information, even if indirectly.

Harriette Cole: I’m feeling uneasy about what I did to help my friend

Dear Abby: My brother’s secret child said to leave her alone, but she might want this news

Asking Eric: We think the grandparents should know about their son’s secret child

Harriette Cole: I feel violated even though technically nothing happened

Miss Manners: I’ve done this for years as a teacher, but maybe it’s an absurd tradition?

I obviously don’t want to start spiritual debates in social settings, but I also wouldn’t want someone to feel like they made a conversation awkward when they only stated the same information about themselves as everyone else had.

GENTLE READER: You are presupposing that everyone has long since forgotten the rules against discussing one’s profession in social settings. Maybe.

Miss Manners agrees that it would be unkind to treat clergy as pariahs in conversation as soon as they mention what they do. And she will overlook the rule about discussing professions in the moment — if we can at least agree not to compare salaries while doing so.

Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, [email protected]; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.