American Airlines hires wine expert

American Airlines has brought on board wine expert Ken Chase, with plans to improve its wine service on flights.

And in a move sure to cheer some of its passengers, the Fort Worth airline is making wine glasses bigger in some of its first class cabins.

Chase, now working on a Ph.D. in enology and viticulture at the University of Melbourne in Australia, has also studied at the University of California, Davis. He’s an expert on the classical wine growing regions of Europe, the airline said, and also loves to fly.

Chase lived eight years in Europe and studied wine production in Bordeaux, France, as well as in Italy and Germany. He speaks French and German as well as English.

He will be in charge of pairing wines with food served on American flights. Chase has worked in the past as a wine consultant to Delta Airlines.

Starting next month, American will use larger glasses — “stemmed tulip-shaped globes,” as it described them — in first class on its Boeing 777 and 767-200 planes. These glasses “will allow customers to more easily swirl the wine and enjoy its aromas.”