Ryanair Boss Wants To Ban 5 A.M. Drinking At Airports

It’s always 5 p.m. at the airport bar, right? Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary doesn’t think so, and wants authorities to crack down on these pubs selling liquor to passengers at the crack of dawn.

It’s no secret that Ryanair is fighting back against drunk and unruly passenger behavior, taking many of them to court to have them either pay up or face jail time. However, O’Leary wants more action to be taken.

In an interview with The Times, he proposed that bars should be prevented from serving alcohol before morning flights, advocating that they be restricted to the same licensing opening hours as a regular bar/pub. These hours typically range from 10:30-11 a.m. to 11 p.m. (at late as 12 in some cities) depending on the jurisdiction in the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland.

When asked about how limiting the serving of alcohol in airports compared to on board Ryanair flights, O’Leary said that his airline already generally limits passengers to one or two drinks per flight.

“We are reasonably responsible but the ones who are not responsible, the ones who are profiteering off it, are the airports who have these bars open at five or six o’clock in the morning and during delays are quite happy to send these people as much alcohol as they want because they know they’re going to export the problem to the airlines.”

He also stated that many years ago, Ryanair would typically see around one diversion per week across its network due to unruly passengers, but that number has since crept up to near one per day. Given that a good chunk of leisure travelers fly with Ryanair to get to their vacation destinations, it’s not exactly surprising that more than a few booze up and use other illegal substances to get the ‘party started’ on their way to their holiday city.  

I can understand O’Leary’s frustration, but at the same time, airports make a fair share of money renting spaces to various shops, restaurants and bars, and it might not exactly be in their best interest to limit bar hours. Realistically, some people’s mornings, might technically be the end of the evening for others (e.g. a passenger coming off a long-haul flight and wanting a 6 a.m. drink before finishing up a short-haul leg within the U.K. or across Europe.

If it were me, I would limit passengers at the airport level to one to two drinks per 24 hours. Bar owners would also be mandated to tie this into their boarding pass, sharing the information across all restaurants and bars at the said airport. By doing this, a passenger wouldn’t be able to bar hop to get around the limit.

On top of that, if airport bars were to have limits, then it would only be fair for airlines to do the same, implementing a similar policy to limit the number of drinks served on board per passenger.

However, Jet2 has put forward a more reasonable solution by proposing that a national no-fly list be built and shared with all UK-based airlines. Should the time period be long enough (e.g. at least 5-10 years), that might be more than enough of an incentive to scare passengers into behaving themselves when flying.

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