‘This is where it all begins!’ What’s it like to start your holiday in the airport bar?
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Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary wants European airports to clamp down on pre-flight drinking. But is it really such a problem? There’s only one way to find out …. The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.
![[Zoe Williams]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2017/10/09/Zoe-Williams,-L.png?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
It is 10.30am on Thursday at Gatwick, and Jenny and her friend Alison, both 63, are drinking champagne. It’s an elegant scene. They are on a stopover between Barbados and Guernsey, and neither are planning to get drunk and kicked off their connecting flight. Alison describes the unique drinking culture at an airport. “We don’t know what day it is, never mind what time,” she says. “There aren’t any windows, so you can’t tell if it is day or night. Everyone is in a different time zone anyway, so nobody is looking at anyone else thinking, ‘They’re starting a bit early.’”.
![[The London Bar at Gatwick airport. ]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/52980a68bb13cb92a24c716a451a7a3c40a3e97e/0_0_4288_2848/master/4288.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The perfect environment, in other words, to enjoy a morning drink. But now I’m casting around my mind for every other place on Earth where one might have a breakfast beer or glass of wine: cricket matches; bottomless brunches; weddings. In every one of those scenarios, a good number of drinkers would be carousing after half an hour. But the airport is so serene.
![[A couple enjoys cocktails in the smoking lounge of the new Imperial Airways Empire flying boat passenger plane, London c. 1936. ]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/99c43234b31c397109de2276c4b208e5e1dd1d88/0_0_4800_3629/master/4800.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Last week, Michael O’Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, reiterated his call for European airports to impose a two-drink limit on passengers. This was after a Ryanair plane from Dublin to Lanzarote had to be diverted to Porto, due to an allegedly drunk passenger causing trouble on board. Ryanair is now suing the passenger for €15,350 (£13,000), which may sound like a lot, but between putting up a plane full of passengers in the wrong city, emergency landing and handling fees, excess fuel, replacement crew and legal expenses, diversions can cost up to £80,000. And if you know anything at all about O’Leary, it’s that he probably wasn’t wild about spending all that money for no reason.
![[Pints of beer in the departure lounge bar in Newcastle airport.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/261b69a7774690080c5945f95efb6e756e3dfa5b/0_0_4069_3428/master/4069.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
