Aeroplane passengers should be restricted to two drinks at airports, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary has said.
Mr O’Leary said introducing alcohol limits at airports would help tackle a rise in disorder on flights.
Violent outbursts are occurring weekly due to alcohol, he said, especially when it is mixed with other substances.
“We don’t want to begrudge people having a drink,” he told the Daily Telegraph.
“But we don’t allow people to drink-drive, yet we keep putting them up in aircraft at 33,000ft.”
This could potentially make the problem worse.
I could see people “pre-gaming” before they get to the airport. And if there is one thing I learned in college is that alcoholics pre-gaming can be a very dangerous thing
Outright prohibition never works. They have to get a lot more clever to work against addiction.
They have alcohol at airports? That’s so weird.
what else are you going to do while you wait for a 3 AM flight
The last time I flew, my flight was delayed 4 hours. 2 drinks per hour wouldn’t even put someone my size over the limit to operate a motor vehicle.
Fuck this guy.
People metabolize approximately 1 drink per hour. 8 drinks over 4 hours should still leave you pretty damn tipsy.
That’s a good rough estimate, but doesn’t account for varying factors, like gender and weight. It also makes assumptions about the alcohol content in your drinks.
For example, the usual BAC calculator assumes 1 serving is 0.6oz worth of straight alcohol. That equates to 1.5oz of 40% liquor, a 12oz beer that’s at 5%, or a 5oz glass of wine that’s at only 12%. So at my weight, two servings over an hour puts my BAC at just 0.03, which is under the limit to operate motor vehicles in many countries. To be clear, I NEVER drink and drive, even after just one drink. But I’m this hypothetical scenario, I’m quietly sitting down in a plane seat, not operating machinery.
When the Irish are telling you to cut down on the drinking, it might be time to cut down on the drinking.
People are angry because of how absolutely shitty and evil ryan air is when they are abusing and stressing up their passengers with all their bullshit.
Otherwise airports are super calm (in the EU anyways).
Not in the US. I’d be fine with it but I don’t know how they’d enforce it. Most of the rowdy people would just get their friends to buy them drinks, or hop from bar to bar at the airport. I doubt they’d make people take a breathalyzer before serving them.
In EU they will not sell you almost anything already if you don’t show your boarding pass. It is very easy to keep a drink counter per passenger.
Where? I have never experienced this before.
Schiphol in the Netherlands, Milan and Rome in Italy, also in some airport in London as I recall.
But thinking about it, some things like food and water at the food court I might have never been asked.
Oh well.
You only have to show your boarding pass for the tax breaks that come with traveling internationally.
I don’t think I’ve ever experienced this while flying in the EU, and I’ve done my fair share of it, living here and all.
Neither but here while there isn’t a ‘limit’ the flights only stock a set amount and flight crew can cut you off when they think you’ve had enough. I don’t think they give a shit if people manage to get drunk. I think largely the point is not having visibly drunk/disruptive people on planes or in airports. Which I kinda can understand.
Ryan Air: No, it’s the airports that are wrong.
I dunno…maybe get people through the fucking airport before they can get that drunk
What’s the surcharge he’s got in mind for this idea?
Mandatory breath tests at the gate with additional fees to pay for every 0.01% over a certain limit (but if you pay up front you can get as pissed as you like)
Bit dismayed people in comments are focused on Ryanair or air travel in general.
It’s never appropriate to be drunk and disorderly in public, especially if you are being a problem for staff. Doesn’t matter if you are frustrated, or delayed.
A crime has happened somewhere. Quick, call the CEO of an exploitative cost cutting company!
CEOs to the rescue again. Our heroes.
That don’t make no sense
Neither do double negatives
Fuck yeah
Every bartender in the U.S. can be fined/punished for over serving. This goes for the airports as well, and the flight attendants. The airlines have the right to turn away passengers who are to drunk as well. Depending on location drunk/disorderly in public can be prosecuted by the police who are stationed in the airports/terminals.
If all of those things are failing, maybe they should be addressing the bartenders/flight attendants who are already legally responsible. Turn them away at gate if you must. Making stupid public statements will never look good for your image when your own company is part of the process that is failing won’t do you any good
Reminder that he could be taking about his own business too, with an onboard 2 drink max.
Though I agree he’s taking about the airport too.
He’s clearly highlighting that the system isn’t working. Anyone who flies regularly can see evidence of that.
Don’t get me wrong, I like to drink, and even be drunk on occasion. But being so on group transit is not cool, and being so plus being aggressive towards staff or other travelers should come with a trip to the no fly list. I can understand why folks in the industry would want change.
I imagine being aggressive towards anyone would get you in trouble, maybe it’s just a U.S. thing, but getting in trouble on a plane is one of the last places Id want it. Even just the airport, it’s a confined area with minimal exits and lots of security/armed police/k9 units…
I can’t imagine if they land a plane somewhere because of you that you won’t hear the end of it. Maybe I’m just paranoid and it’s a lot more lax than I feel it is when I am there.
Is it the alcohol that causes people to be disorderly or all the BS that airlines throw at them. It’s equally as inappropriate to constantly prod people.
Drunk or not, it is never appropriate to harass staff or interfere with a flight
It’s also never appropriate to cancel flights then refuse to reimburse passengers for hotel stays due to said cancelation, lose luggage and refuse to refund or reimburses for the lost luggage.
Are you suggesting two things can’t be true?
I’m sorry dude but it’s entirely childish behavior (not you-you, the hypothetical behavior) to think that getting a run around / bad customer service permits you to get drunk and harass a flight attendant while they do their job. They didn’t fail to reimburse you, they clocked in and are trying to work their shift. How the fuck is it even in discussion that it’s ok to be rude/intimidating to someone in the working class?
Further, the other passengers also didn’t cause your booking woes, or lost luggage. Why should they be intimidated or disturbed by drunk and disorderly behavior?
Again I’m not saying “you” do this, I’m referring to a hypothetical drunken customer, even one who has suffered all of the bad things you mentioned.
Having an absolute shit day doesn’t permit getting drunk and impacting others
Are you suggesting two things can’t be true?
Nope, it’s why I used words like also and equally inappropriate.
Stopping everyone from having a few drinks so that the customers you shit on the most will obediently swallow all the shit you can shove down their throats is fixing a symptom not the cause.
It’s neither lol, it’s the people themselves.
Blame choosing to drink alcohol or fly a low cost carrier, but like…really it’s you. Sorry.
Screwing with 100s of people and then being surprised when one lashed out is impressively naive.
Agreed that being drunk and disorderly in public is wrong but airports are a powder keg that probably pushes people to drink more than normal considering passengers are treated like cattle in a highly restricted environment.
I hear you. I’ve felt it.
Not trying to argue, but I can’t accept shredding personal responsibility for ingesting chemicals. People are always responsible for what they consciously and freely put in their body, and are especially still responsible for how they act afterwards. I think it’s fair to say that no matter how bad, horrifically bad, an airport experience gets, there’s never justification to get rude or belligerent with folks just trying to do their jobs.
Agree, but it’s not on Ryanair to police that and should be at the discretion of the bar like it is everywhere else. If a bar overserves someone, fine them. If someone is unruly boarding or on a plane, either prevent them from boarding or ban them going forward and make the punishment hurt. There are plenty of people capable of drinking a handful of alcoholic beverages and functioning in public.
Totally. I just don’t take any issue at all with a company calling out they wish there were less/no drunk folks on their flying metal tubes.
Unfortunately idiots ruin it for the rest of us, who can happily sit in their own seat with a buzz on
The problem is that generally people who have several drinks lose their common sense, and you can’t determine who will drink more and who will stop.
My father was an airline pilot, and often recounted stories of passengers who would become unruly and create safety concerns. He often used the expression “There are no road shoulders in the sky”, meaning that if there are problems you can’t simply pull over.
Also, most everybody who is drinking at an airport bar is boarding a flight, so if the drinker is drinking too much, they are going to bring the consequences of that over drinking on board.
I get that Lemmy’s kneejerk reaction is naturally that the big corporation’s CEO is wrong and evil (he IS an asshole, at least), but drunk passengers on planes is an actual issue.
I have a couple of close relatives who’ve worked as air hostesses for Ryanair for years, and they mostly like the job except for summer flights from a specific European island country in which there’s a big tradition of drinking a lot and big groups of men doing “guy trips” to my country either for specific football games or for the beaches. These usually involve an almost permanent state of drunkenness, getting into fights with locals, trashing places.
O’Leary’s claim about inebriated people being hard to identify is partly bullshit from what my relatives tell me - they say that even when they can notice these groups are already drunk when boarding, Ryanair’s staff isn’t really comfortable policy wise in preventing them from boarding. Plane staff may refuse them alcohol on board but by then they’re usually already in a state of general lack of control. I assume the company doesn’t want to strenghten boarding rules in order not to lose these groups as customers, and staff gets shafted in the process. But these people shouldn’t be getting this drunk on a plane (or in general).
So maybe should just get comfortable policy-wise with turning away passengers fucked in passengers at the gate.
A two drink maximum doesn’t stop me from snorting a fistful of ket in the cab, getting 1-2 drinks after security, then going ballistic during the flight. Getting turned away at the gate because I’m obviously kholed does stop me though.
The thing that works the best might cost Ryanair some money though, and we obviously can’t have that, won’t someone please think of the profits?
Maybe you’re right. But hand waving the problem away with a knee jerk comment about how this is just a greedy CEO making up a problem that doesn’t actually exist doesn’t really add much to the discussion, and that was what my comment was addressing - the many comments pretending people flying drunk isn’t an actual issue but instead an excuse to justify Ryanair’s other shenanigans.
I was going to say that this sounds like a very UK specific issue.
“But we don’t allow people to drink-drive, yet we keep putting them up in aircraft at 33,000ft.”
Aaah, so the problem is drunk pilots. I can get behind a two-drink maximum for flying a plane. Although, in “Flight” the guy flew a plane upside down hammered…so maybe it should be a two-drink minimum to get maximum innovation.
ETA: I prob should have added /s
The false equivalence in the article is frustrating. We don’t allow people to drink and drive, but we do allow people to drink and ride. Contextually, I think the article is referring to drunk passengers being unruly, not pilots. If they are actually talking about pilots then it should be a 0 drink limit before a flight. Just punish the disorderly drunks, and let the rest of the adults, adult.
Generally there are no pilots who drink before a flight. All airline carry out spot tests, and pilots who fail will at the very least be suspended. Many airline have a zero tolerance policy, and will kick a pilot out if they test positive. Too high a risk for most pilots
That’s their point, no drunk drivers in the issue, so why was he discussing them?
If he wants us to start arresting sober drivers for driving drunk people home, that’s another topic he should address separately.
Don’t think he’s going to get very far with that one, as if you made such a law, you would discourage people from driving intoxicated people home, thereby increasing drunk drivers on the road, and putting more people at risk.
Pilots already are forbidden from drinking before flights. I seem to recall a very strict policy about not drinking for at least 24 hours before a flight.
I saw “2 drink limit” and my stupid brain was like “how does this guy think a 2 drink minimum supposed to improve anything?”
Derp.
Year, maybe Ryan Air could do with a one-drink-per-seat limit, as the main issue is usually the passengers that get drunk ON the flight. Worst flights have been from the UK, Ireland and from Poland. Maybe Ryan Air could stop serving alcohol ON these flights?
Jokes aside, stop flying Ryan Air.
Problem: Airports have multiple bars and lounges. There’s no way to enforce that limit.
You could tie it to your ticket like a punch card. When the bar does the standard Id check they’d also check your boarding pass and check if the name is the same then mark it / digitally update it. Even if they don’t do a limit at the airport it would still be good to let the attendants on the flight know “alright this guy’s already had 5 beers, don’t serve him anything on the flight”
You’d need every airport to be in on the same system… otherwise you’ll end up with 2 drinks at phx, 2 drinks at atl, and 2 drinks at jfk.
Well, at least you’re forcing people to pace themselves.
Eh if it’s 20 minutes flights it might not be enough for those who magically can’t control themselves while drunk.
Just another policy that would hurt people who can actually exert some form of control over themself.
My dude, have you ever been on a flight that’s only 20 minutes?
I haven’t even gone throufh an airport terminal in only 20 minutes.
My dude, have you ever been on a flight that’s only 20 minutes?
yes.
I haven’t even gone throufh an airport terminal in only 20 minutes.
Good thing I said nothing about time in the terminal and was only talking about flights.
Consider how long it takes to fly between each of those airports. I’ll be completely sober by landing, and ready for another couple rounds considering I’ve got two fucking layovers.
Sounds like you’re exactly the person that needs this policy then.
I never really understood why bars are so popular in airports.
Why anyone would want to get heavily drunk before flying is beyond me.
I can maybe see this being a thing way back during the prop days when engines were ridiculously loud and travel was very tiring, but those days have been long.
If you’re really that bored even with access to modern technology, you’re probably better off taking a sleeping pill.
I think drinking at airport bars can be fun. Everyone is on their way to somewhere else, no one is driving, so it can be really fun and chummy. Been drinking at an airport bar where a guy was buying everyone free rounds until the first person left for a flight. Pretty hilarious when a whole bar loudly booed a guy hustling off to his flight. 🤣
This is the take i understand the least that I’ve seen on Lemmy, airport bars are amongst the funnest places to drink, folks are either in vacation or work trip mode so for the most part everyone is loose and chill, nobody has to drive after, and as soon as I board and get to my seat I can instantly take a nap. I love an airport bar and I’ve had a bunch of really fun chats in them when I used to travel for work constantly
Yeah, I used to drink a lot but getting loaded before a flight just makes the whole ordeal so much less tolerable.
Yup. Getting drunk ON a plane is great. Getting drunk BEFORE a plane is no bueno.
As with any drinking occasion the trick is to hot that goldilocks zone where you are just drunk enough to enjoy yourself and then fall asleep in a few hours, but not so drunk you become belligerent and wake up feeling like shit
Airport bars are crazy expensive too
Ryanair wants to turn the airport into a pubcrawl.
Interesting.
