RoyalSwazi

jerub

As someone who really quite enjoys his drink, I would totally fine with:
- no alcohol served before midday
- alcohol only by bar service (no self service)
- halting alcohol service onboard a reasonable time before landing
- limits to the quantity served onboard

Making poor decisions (especially: the decision to have one more drink) is much easier when tired, in an alien environment and intoxicated.

The sickest from drink I have ever been since I was a teenager was after LHR-SEA in CW: and the contributing factors included my self service in galleries T5B, the literal half glass of scotch I was given after the meal service when I asked for the Glenlivet neat, and the text message I got inviting me to a brewery-crawl in Fremont after I landed.

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Eastbay1K

Why "[q]uite sad?" If I'm in GF at 7am, my time zone clock is probably 11pm. Alternatively, I might be getting on a flight where I'll have an opportunity for a snooze, so one or two lounge drinks and one or two plane drinks (usually for a total of about 3) will put me in that "I could snooze" mode. And as far as the "if there was no tomorrow," when flying westbound home, it certainly seems like it, as I've just started a 32 hour day.

kaka

LTN Phobia

If the government want to control drinking at airports, setting the minimum price of alcohol (by virtue of taxing them at 500% or something, haha), removing self-serve, and introduce fines for people serving alcohol to intoxicated customers* would be better than a ban.

*Possibly the 'responsible service of alcohol' style, similar to Australia where you have to complete a course and face a rather substantial fine if you disobey

Keep duty free at the normal price but make it an offence to open duty free alcohol at airports so that people won't be swilling it there. Perhaps 'delivery at gate' system like they have at SIN for flights to Australia etc.?

That way, people still have a choice - drinking just costs them a lot.
It won't face fierce objections from airport-based shops that might lose revenue through the morning alcohol ban, and airlines would happily charge for alcohol 'since they are required to' by the government. Then the government will be happy to collect exorbitant taxes on alcohol (which should then be allocated to the NHS since alcohol does cause extra NHS spending).

It might just encourage BA to offer a better range of non-alcoholic beverages in their lounges - or may be not, to encourage more spending on drinks

corporate-wage-slave

In the UK it has long been a criminal offence if someone "sells or attempts to sell alcohol to a person who is drunk", or "allows alcohol to be sold to such a person". It's also a criminal offence for someone to buy drink for a friend if they are drunk too, which is rather less well known. It attracts a fine on a scale up to Ł1,000, and would seriously endanger a licensee's renewal. Now this is not ruthlessly enforced (particularly the buying for a friend bit), but even on the Bigg Market on a Friday night every pub there will deny drinks to at least some customers. "Drunk" in this case uses a commonsense definition, the landlord doesn't need to administer breath tests.

LTN Phobia

Thanks, that's rather interesting, although the fines seem pretty small. It can be up to about Ł35,000 equivalent for the licencee or manager (individuals) here (Australia) and around Ł7,000 equivalent for the server here, depending on the circumstance. On-the spot fines are also issued, and licence suspension after two counts of supplying alcohol to an intoxicated person or a minor in at least some states.

I think it tends to be enforced a bit more strictly than it is in the UK and also with mandatory training etc. (you need a certificate before you can serve alcohol).

I've no idea how it would function in situations like BA GF/GC where alcohol is free-pour though!

DorsetKnob

From my experience here I can comfortably state the Russians can teach the brits a thing a or two about getting annihilated!!

rapidex

I think KARFA and Jamier45 could give the Russians a good run for their money

Dave Noble

I am not sure why a lot of the flyertalk members would not be being targetted - it seems that binge drinking is rather overly promoted on FT , just that the bingeing is on expensive alcohol - alcohol effects are not based on the retail price of the drinks

If it comes to pass, hopefully this will mean that the lounges will start offering a better selection of non alcoholic drinks

jock

I think training the gate staff to decide who is..and who isn't drunk would be a hard job. Ive been in the pub game for 24 yrs and i can tell u from personal experience that if u pull an individual out of a queue thats part of a group and tell them that they're holiday is over..before its begun....trust me..there's going to be trouble. Trust me..no one wants that job. You'd have to have a couple or gorillas at each gate..and even then i suspect there would be quite alot of violence...which is why the gate staff let them through in the first place..its non confrontational.

simons1

Exactly. The airlines' issue and they should deal with it. If people are intoxicated then deny boarding. The law doesn't need changing.

Then again the airlines are weak at policing anything whether it's hand baggage, intoxication, priority boarding or anything in between.

schrodingerdog

A year ago I was in the queue for the omelette / bar service of the MAN T1 Lounge at 7.00am. I was, literally, the only person who did not ask for an alcoholic drink (omelette + cappuccino). The lady servicing the bar laugh at my order and ask: 'are you sure you don't want some beer / wine'. When I politely declined the offer, she said 'You still need to learn more about the mancunian culture'

So I am sorry, but some type of regulation / ban is long overdue. A some kind of central database linked to the boarding pass limiting the amount of drinks you can order should be more than enough.

DorsetKnob

I'm afraid I'm a grown adult, who is more than capable of making my own choices & presenting myself at the entrance to a plane in a fit condition to fly. More regulation is not the answer, apply the regulations you do have. I don't need some big brother tracking what I do & don't drink. If I'm not in a fit condition then I should not be allowed to board. Again the do gooders seem to want to penalize the masses to catch a few miscreants

Having said that the state of the guys catching flights from Bahrain back to the UK, having just spent several months dry in Saudi was often comical. The number of times I'd see a couple of guys carrying their drunken mate on the plane & dumping him in a seat. He was never a problem though as they usually slept all the way home!

RG1X

I'd be OK with that, but again, in reality people would just bring alcohol with them if they really wanted to get the party started.

10 x 100ml bottles of vodka would definitely be enough to get most people smashed.