Michael O’Leary, the Twitter-brained CEO of Ryanair, recently complained that his low-cost carrier is increasingly forced to redirect flights thanks to disruption by drunk and disorderly passengers.
Ten years ago, there was maybe one diversion a week, he said, but ‘now I would say we are running close to one diversion a day’.
His tirade hits out at airport exemptions from licensing laws that govern pubs elsewhere, which is why you can order a pre-flight pint at the crack of dawn.
‘I fail to understand why anybody in airport bars is serving people at five or six o’clock in the morning,’ he said. ‘Who needs to be drinking beer at that time?’
To that I reply: just about anyone about to get on one of your flights.
Ryainair boss Michael O’Leary is keen to end the early morning pint travel ritual
Last month, more than 133,000 Ryanair passengers experienced delays: a year-on-year increase of 142 per cent.
Some wait times are so long that anyone having a couple of pre-flight G&Ts may well have sobered up by take-off.
There have been reports of aggressive passenger behaviour.
But O’Leary identifies the real problem: the combination of alcohol and ‘people shoving powder up their nose’. The result was ‘they [some passengers] want to fight somebody, they’re hyper’.
For context: O’Leary has long been well-known for his provocative, ‘trolling’ public persona and marketing tactics. So take his latest diatribe with a pinch of salt.
Reducing the timeframe for airport boozing by a few hours would have no effect on drug consumption before arrival.
O’Leary has been calling for a two-drink limit per passenger for years. How would he enforce this – breathalysers at the gate? And he says that Ryanair cabin crew rarely serve passengers more than two drinks on board.
Passengers enjoying a pre-flight beverage are a common sight at airports – and with Ryanair experiencing many delays, it’s hardly surprising Brits are enjoying a drink while waiting
Pull the other one. After all, it’s his bottom line that will benefit if people are boozing on board.
Being drunk on a flight is a criminal offence, with penalties of up to two years in prison and huge fines. That’s a better disincentive than tighter airport licensing laws.
O’Leary’s outburst is clearly a distraction from hiking flight prices, jet fuel shortages and the threat of mass cancellations this summer. But even if it wasn’t, what’s wrong with downing a few while waiting for your gate number?
Flying is becoming more stressful. I recently queued for an hour both ways in and out of Lisbon, thanks to Europe’s new Entry/Exit System. Low-cost carriers are charging extortionate prices, and the likes of British Airways won’t even gift you a Diet Coke.
Seat density is at an all-time high, leg-room is at an all-time low, and ‘small bag’ hand luggage effectively amounts to a toothbrush and pair of pants stuffed in a little bag under the seat in front.
For me, that 6am pint or glass of fizz is the last remnant of the decadent glamour once the hallmark of air travel. It’s a symbol of an airport, that special space where the normal rules are suspended. Why should a few bad apples ruin it for the rest of us?
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Hands off my 6am airport pint! Why Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary has got it all wrong about pre-flight drinks at dawn
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