Alcohol serving hours in Maple Leaf Lounge Toronto & Calgary
 

I'm curious to know what time they start serving alcohol in the lounges in Calgary and Toronto.

11am in Toronto, following provincial liquor laws.

From what I see in Alberta, it's 10am?

During Stampede its 8am. Provides us with a solid 18 hour drinking window.

http://globalnews.ca/news/2030695/ca...stampede-2015/

What are the rules in the US? I'm sitting in the AF lounge at SFO with a beer, and it's not 11 yet.

I'd ask about the LAX MLL (:rolleyes:), but that would be dumb, so how about LGA?

It depends on the state and in some cases on the day of the week (not on Sunday morning before noon in any restaurant in New York, for example, and AFAIK still no alcohol at all in airline lounges in Missouri (STL) throughout Sunday). Sometimes the rules are more liberal for airport lounges as they can be considered to be private clubs and sometimes the rules are different for giving away alcohol for free versus selling it.

I've had plenty of early morning bevy's at IAH United clubs.

YYZ is 11:00am to 11:00pm 7 days a week.

"Rules" and "practice" are two entirely different things. On both sides of the border, the general feeling is that airlines and interstate/interprovincial railways are governed by federal law with provincial/state law being irrelevant. When it comes to paying taxes or obtaining liquor licenses, they certainly are.

However, curiously, and perhaps out of a desire to avoid confrontation with the local liquor regulators, they tend to adopt the local regulations. A compromise that seems to have worked well enough that it hasn't gone to court for a definitive determination of whether the (US federal) supremacy clause, or the division of powers provisions under Canada's constitution apply.

So if you are denied liquor in the MLL at 6am in the morning, its AC that's setting the rules, perhaps to protect you from the scourge of alcoholism, or perhaps just to save money on the cost of liquor. Not the provincial liquor regulator.

In the air, I would agree with you. No problem getting a drink on a 6am flight.

But an airline lounge or any F&B outlet in an airport is not somehow exempt from provincial (and even municipal) laws and bylaws on the service and/or sale of food and alcohol.

Sorry but Canadian airport authorities are local entities subject to the laws of their province and municipality. Aa are the airlines when on the ground. (Have you not noticed its the Mississauga police who patrol YYZ, not the Mounties?) All facilities that serve alcohol must be licensed from their respective province and abide by the rules set by those licensing boards. (Ever notice you're not supposed to bring alcohol into the computer work area of the YYZ MLLs?) Airlines pay provincial and federal taxes witness their complaints over Ontario's raising the excise tax on fuel. Even in the US, airport lounges must be licensed and abide by local liquor licensing authorities.

Nope. The airport authorities do not pay municipal taxes*, for instance. They are not subject to zoning bylaws or building code inspections of the province/municipality. I could go on and on with examples of how airports and the operations of airlines (including their proprietary lounge facilities) are *not* regulated by the provinces or legislation flowing from the provincial authority.

But by all means, next time you're in the MLL, use your smart phone to snap a shot of the MLL's (provincial) liquor license. I've never seen one there, even though they're generally required to be posted in provincially licensed establishments. If you can post such, I will thus stand corrected.

* http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskat...ions-1.3023841

This is really locale dependent. For instance, when YYZ operated under Transport Canada, the airport was federal property and policed by the Mounties. As soon as it came under the GTAA, out go the Mounties, in comes Peel Regional Police, and the place becomes an operating establishment in the province of Ontario (i.e. not federal property any more...).

This will likely mean provincial booze regs apply where your airport is not operated by Transport Canada.

Regina voted an exemption for the airport for taxes.

YEG certainly pays property taxes to the local government. You'll find it included in on page 61 of last year's annual report along with a comment about the increase due to increase in land value assessment. That's also what keeps driving the whole Edmonton should annex the airport land discussion.

YEG is run by the EAA so it isn't federally operated. Based on the previous poster, I wonder if that means the Edmonton police service would staff if the city ever succeeded with the annexation.

I love how a simple question like when do they start serving alcohol in lounges in Toronto and Calgary turns into complicated legal, tax and policing issues.

Yay Flyertalk.

you didn't expect that? you must be new here :P

*sarcasm, I saw your join date*