Brit fliers furious at plans to ban early morning booze at airports
As the Home Office prepares to recommend no alcohol before 10am, the message from many holidaying Brits is...hands off our airport tipples
IT is 6am at Bristol Airport and the first pints have already been downed as travellers get into the holiday mood.
An hour later the queue for the Brunel bar was 20 deep as drinkers joined in the early-morning party.
Around them stag and hen dos were getting into the swing while waiting for flights to be called.
It was a similar story in departure areas up and down the country.
And the message from the people enjoying a breakfast tipple was the same — hands off our airport drinks.
The fliers were outraged by Government plans to end the tradition of all-day boozing in airport terminals.
As The Sun revealed last week, a review by the Home Office is expected to recommend that no alcohol is served before 10am.
But Emily Golding, 30 — who was enjoying a 6am drink at Bristol on the way to Amsterdam to celebrate her hen do with friends and family — does not agree.
She said: “They just need to do checks as people board the plane to make sure nobody’s been stupid about it.”
Another drinker, Andy King, 61 — flying to Barcelona with ten others to celebrate their friend Darren Perrin’s 50th birthday — said: “Most people don’t drink at this time in the morning. I wouldn’t if I wasn’t going away with the boys. We’re all just having a quick one. You can’t legislate for the idiots that cause the problems.”
Mark Smith, 29, was heading from Bristol to Dublin for a pal’s stag do. He said: “If this legislation comes into place, it’s the airports that are going to be losing out on a heck of a lot of money.
"I’ve just spent £55 on a round of 16 beers and a little bit of breakfast. It’s chucking money into the economy.”
For some travellers, drinking helps with their fear of flying.
Worried advertising boss Chris Andrews ordered his first beer at 6am before a flight from Manchester airport to Malaga. Chris, 47, from Cheltenham, said: “I’m a nervous flier so I want a beer to steady my nerves.”
Nurse Michelle Nowell, 30, was also drinking at Manchester Airport with her mum Ann and pal Jane Bennett before flying to Tenerife.
Michelle said: “They shouldn’t be trying to spoil the start of people’s holiday just be- cause a few people can’t control themselves.”
Bridget Kizza, 28, was having a cocktail at 8.30am at Glasgow Airport on the way to Lanzarote. She said: “Alcohol can be more of a problem on the streets but it’s not as bad in airports.”
The proposed crackdown would apply to duty free shops and restaurants, as well as the bars. So there would be no carrying on a bottle of booze ready for the first night of the holiday or having a quick glass of wine with breakfast.
At Luton Airport the early fliers didn’t want their party spirit dampened.
Champagne-swigging account manager Tracy Waldron, 53, of Peterborough, Cambs, who was heading to Lithuania with her pal Vicki, said: “I haven’t seen any rowdiness today but last time I was here there was a drunk man and that was at 6.30 in the morning. His wife was really annoyed at him.”
Punishments are already strong. Passengers who disrupt a flight can be jailed — and if they cause a flight to be diverted they might be forced to pay up to £80,000.
But not everyone thinks that planes and pints are a good mix.
Ryanair has called for 10am to be the earliest that alcohol can be served because the number of booze-related disruptions on planes has doubled in two years.
Oliver Bynon — who was flying to Amsterdam from Bristol to celebrate his 21st birthday with his brother Alex and two friends — agreed.
He said: “You wouldn’t drink anywhere else this early. I’m only doing it because we’re celebrating my 21st. But I think the new law is a good idea.”
Dad-of-two Brian Corrway, 47, travelling to Ireland from Glasgow with his wife Linda and their three-month-old baby Oliver, also agreed that time should be called on early airport drinking.
Accountant Brian said: “I’m in favour of it. It doesn’t really affect us but we have been in flights with people who are drunk and it’s not very good at that time in the morning.
“I guess you do get a small number of people who spoil things for everyone and I don’t see another way of changing it other than limiting the amount people drink before they get on a flight.”
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