Stansted passengers disagree that stopping airports serving alcohol before early flights will reduce bad behaviour
For most people, the idea of a pint with breakfast is pretty grim. But at the Wetherspoon’s in Stansted’s departure lounge on Thursday morning, it appeared to be the beverage of choice.
“It’s a holiday ritual,” said Dee Wood, 60, a waste policy officer, who was enjoying a pint while waiting to board her Alicante-bound morning flight. “It’s like the start of holiday,” said her friend Rachel Almond, 59, a community planner, who was treating herself to a lager. “We don’t get drunk, we just have a pint, say cheers and off we go.”
Michelle Webb opted for a glass of wine instead. “I don’t like anything else,” she said. For the trio, who were heading to Spain, starting their day with an alcoholic brew was not normal procedure. “We’re not nervous flyers or anything,” said Wood. “You wouldn’t be drinking a pint at home at this time of day but it’s just nice to do something different.”
But if Michael O’Leary, gets his way, an early morning pint could become a thing of the past. The Ryanair boss said airports should be banned from serving alcohol before early flights to reduce the number of disruptive passengers on planes, telling the Times on Wednesday that Ryanair was having to divert an average of nearly one flight a day because of bad behaviour onboard, up from one a week 10 years ago.
