Should airports and airlines ban alcohol?

BlueBelle

Why do you need to have alcohol on a flight can’t you have a coffee or soft drink if you’re thirsty I ve never understood why they serve it on board so yes get rid of it unnecessary in my opinion

It helps anxious passengers to relax.
Rather than banning alcohol on board I think it better to ban it in the airports.Too much time before a flight means that some idiots spend a long time boozing in the airport bars.

We don't have alcohol freely available on other forms of transport. We don't smoke on them either. In fact, drinking is banned on TfL - so, yes, I think it should be stopped.

Of course, there will always be a few who try to sneak a drink through or arrive drunk, still it should end most problems with drunken behaviour.

I remember being on a flight to Spain a good few years ago when the row in front of us had two women who'd clearly had a good drink before they even got on the plane, then carried on drinking onboard - even opening their duty free. One kept standing up and pulling at the panel where the oxygen masks were kept, insisting 'that's where the telly is'! They also had several kids between them and totally ignored them for the entire flight. No amount of telling off from the cabin crew made any difference to their behaviour - which included shouting and swearing. Eventually when the plane landed, an announcement was made that passengers wouldn't be able to disembark immediately as the police were being called. The two women were told they were being put on the airline's no fly list and would have to find alternative arrangements to get home - and when they were hauled off the plane by the police, everyone else on board cheered and clapped!

The idea is impractical. There is nothing to stop someone getting loaded before they enter the airport.

You would have to have everyone entering the airport breathalysed and their luggage searched and a body search as they entered the terminal in order to stop them smuggling booze in and swigging it in the loos.

And what about drugs?

M0nica

The idea is impractical. There is nothing to stop someone getting loaded before they enter the airport.

You would have to have everyone entering the airport breathalysed and their luggage searched and a body search as they entered the terminal in order to stop them smuggling booze in and swigging it in the loos.

And what about drugs?

As the average airport wait is around 2 hours then that is enough time to sober up.
We usually fly early, I am always astonished to see people downing pints with their breakfast as an early as 6.00am.

If you are plastered it takes much longer than 2 hours to sober up. If you can sober up in two hours you are unlikely to be drunk enough to cause much trouble.

If someone brings a bottle of whisky into the airport with them and drinks it in the loo, 2 hours is neither here nor there.

Wouldn’t worry me in the slightest. I love a Good Friday night session at the pub. But I loathe the short term’s effect and worse yet the long term on some. For me it could be banned.

Totally impractical I agree. Why should the responsible traveller be penalised because of the irresponsible ones.
So tired of being nannied.

Sago

M0nica

The idea is impractical. There is nothing to stop someone getting loaded before they enter the airport.

You would have to have everyone entering the airport breathalysed and their luggage searched and a body search as they entered the terminal in order to stop them smuggling booze in and swigging it in the loos.

And what about drugs?

As the average airport wait is around 2 hours then that is enough time to sober up.
We usually fly early, I am always astonished to see people downing pints with their breakfast as an early as 6.00am.

Two hours is not long enough to sober up if a large amount of alcohol is consumed in a short time.

People's reactions to alcohol are different too, some may become sleepy, others aggressive, others loud and annoying.

Absolutely not - I do enjoy a G&T on the plane. And a mini bottle of wine with my meal.

Unless anyone’s seriously suffered from drunken yobs on a plane, I can’t imagine why they’d think it’s a good idea.

On a related matter, I once had a BA stewardess get very sniffy with me, when she’d misunderstood my request for two tonics with my one gin - she’d thought I’d meant two gins. Though funnily enough she said not a word to the bloke next to me, who ordered two mini bottles of Scotch twice!

Talk about sexist! Don’t know whether it’s relevant but she def. wasn’t a Brit - accent sounded more Slavonic/E. European.

I don’t think it should be available at airports, to stop individuals tanking up before the flight. I’m a very light drinker and think alcohol is far too easily available, in my opinion it should not be available in food shops or garages.
If a special trip to an off licence was needed it would reduce consumption a lot, but it’s not going to happen too much tax is collected on drink.

But, Katy59, as has already been pointed out. If someone gets really tanked up before they come into the airport, they will still be drunk when they get on board the plane- and who is to stop people coming into an airport building from bringing alcoholic drink with them and drinking it either openly or secretively? or is everyone coming into the building, which will include all people meeting people, saying goodbye, meeters and greeters, staff etc going to be breathalysed and body and luggage searched as they come into the building?

More generally alcohol consumption is falling and while drunken incidents on planes are unpleasant, they are relatively infrequent.

There are strict rules governing consumption of alcohol by air crews and as long as those remain in place, drunken passengers are a nuisance, bvut they are not flying the plane and cannot get access into the cockpit.

Iam64

I’m always amazed by the numbers of British holidaymakers drinking pints of beer, g and tests, wine etc at 6 am whilst waiting to board their 8 am flight.

You don’t see this need to gulp down alcohol as proof you’re on holiday in foreign airports

Totally agree, I can’t understand it either.
However I don’t think alcohol should be banned. I enjoy a glass of wine on a long haul flight with my meal, but never bother with alcohol on a short flight to Europe.

I'm not being stuck up, because I use both, but there's a difference between say London City or Stansted Airport where passengers are usually either heading off on business trips, or going on package holidays/hen dos. For those working, a quick drink in the bar before boarding is relaxing and quite harmless, and for those off to party, a few drinks on the way is what the trip is all about!
So, no, alcohol shouldn't be banned.

I don't drink alchohol on short flights...but really enjoy a couple of glasses of wine on our long haul flights and I hope that I will always be able to do so...as others have said...on my many long haul flights I've never seen anyone who looks or acts drunk...

The airlines inflate the prices! I never buy anything to drink on the plane. I wait until I get to my destination

Definitely Dry. Just cannot figure why so much alcohol is consumed by many flyers. Probably the same folk who woukd normally have a bottle of water welded to their hand throughout thd day. Alcohol dehydrates you, flying even more. I can remember when there were no pubs in airports and anyone even slightly enebriated would be refused boarding. Airlines just do not want the publicity of refusing boarding nowadays so allow those showing signs of drunkeness on board hoping they will behave. We have become too tolerant of behaviour due to drunkeness in a lot of situations now..

Divi

The airlines inflate the prices! I never buy anything to drink on the plane. I wait until I get to my destination

It's included in the price of the flight, isn't it?
Or perhaps that's why people on long-haul flights don't drink to excess because they get one, perhaps two drinks and don't ask for more.

Absolutely they should ban alcohol in the airport on the plane and people who appear intoxicated should definitely not be allowed an aircraft at all for the safety of the passengers and crew.

No. It's punishing the law abiding. Security staff could breathalyse likely drunks and prevent boarding. There's a tendency to make life difficult for the law abiding in the UK - just look at all the faff around money laundering.

I think the people who cause the problems are usually the people who associate having a good time with getting blitzed. My brother is a taxi driver and once took a party of 3 young men and 3 young women to the airport quite early in the morning and they were celebrating the beginning of their holiday with cans in the taxi. I'm pretty sure they would have continued their 'celebration' once they hit the airport. Hopefully they slept all the way to their destination rather than brawled.

Having worked in the travel industry I have met many people disembarking from planes virtually incapable of even standing up. Most in this condition have not caused any problems on the flight, although a minority have. So it's a bit unfair to punish everyone for a few's misdemeanors.

Airline staff have every right to deny boarding to passengers they feel will cause disruptions and I must admit I enjoyed telling people that they would be denied their return flights due to their behaviour on inbound flights. Petty I know, but the last word comes from the airline and the pilot concerned so the only thing to do is behave yourself whenever you intend to fly.

Having just been on a 6am flight with a very drunken abusive man nearby I would say airport lounges shouldn’t serve alcohol, unless with food at a meal time.
This gentleman proudly said he’d had an alcohol breakfast and was ordering a bottle of Champagne at 7am mid flight. When the air hostesses politely declined this and explained why, he became verbally and physically aggressive. Very scary for all of us.

Having had to endure a flight with drunken fellow-passengers, I'm for banning alcohol at airports and limiting it in-flight drinks to 2 units per person.
(And I'm amazed at the number of flights GNers are apparently accustomed to make.)

Re drunks gettin