Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Banning drinking in airports.

In the 80's, there used to be a direct flight EMA to Brussels. A 12 seater - just us and the pilot. The first time I went on it, I could not work out why a number of people headed straight for the back seats. The answer was that they knew where the hamper was stowed and being at the back put them in charge of distribution. A very cheerful flight ensued. On the way back, I was one of the ones heading for the rear seats and pole position on the hamper.

So what we're saying is that flying and consumption of a large quantity of (cheap or ideally free) alcoholic beverages is not new thing. We just did it with a tad more style.

Precisely.

My regular Thursday evening flight home was the late flight out of Newark - which would inevitably see me demolish a couple of 50/50 G&Ts in the SAS lounge prior to boarding. I managed a reasonable number of hours of sleep with that strategy.

I got in the habit of taking the late afternoon flight out from Zurich on a Monday too (1730 departure to Newark) - that way I could drink and work on the way over - and be checked in to the hotel in Manhatten around 2200. And be sat in the office by 8am the following day to send back to Zurich the stuff that I had completed on the flight over!

I have never liked the combination of a long flight and lots of booze. A couple of drinks ...yes. Never enough to get drunk. Some people just seem to see heavy drinking as par for the course on flights, train journeys etc.
Surely the airline/train company has a duty to refuse passage to obviously drunk and unruly passengers? Just apply the rule.
Am I a saint? No.....in my rugby playing days alcohol went with the game, but I didn't like being drunk on a long journey so refrained. Drank a few but not too much.A personal choice.
What also annoys me are unruly children allowed to run riot by parents. Often the parents are too "busy" to control them and get bolshy if anyone complains.... a slight drift of thread but similar.

surprised at the numbers of business people on here admitting to drinking whilst flying. Very early in my exporting career I realised that jet lag was far worse if you drank alcohol, the real issue being dehydration. So I used to drink a lot of water, refuse the junk food and sleep through the flights to arrive in decent nick.

I would have guessed that the flight drink problem was confined to holiday travelers on the likes of Sleezyjet not business types in club.

The problem is that people have not learned how to handle alcoholic drinks.
Took me a lifetime to do it the right way.

BTW: My name is Hannes and I am an alc....




It is the dosis, not the substance! Well known for more than a 1000 years!

I've never had any problems going West - partly because I am an early riser. Going East is the killer and I've tried drinking/eating, not drinking/eating, sleeping early, sleeping late - every combination apart from popping a pill. I've got better over time in sleeping on planes and flying business class no doubt makes that whole thing a lot easier.

And if all else fails - there is always coffee!

EDIT: Flying into Singapore I had had a rotten flight (alcohol free) and had tried everything to get off to sleep - but no luck. In the end I probably got less than an hour before we headed into Changi. Straight to the hotel - showered - and into the office. Meetings all through the morning and a business lunch - where Asian culture meets Western culture in a "we can eat all you order" situation. By 3pm a full stomach and naff all sleep lead to me eyeing my keyboard as a suitable pillow. With me doing my best nodding dog impression I headed across the street to Starbucks - double espresso ordered - drunk. No buzz

Repeated - waited 5 mins. No buzz
Repeated - waiting 10mins. Slight buzz
Americano extra shot for back in the office - and I made it through to 7pm.

Which gave me an hour (to sweat back to the hotel, shower and change) before a business dinner - finally crashing into bed around midnight. That was a Thursday.

Friday repeated - and was then followed by boozing until 5am first with colleagues - and then with the guys who played in the Irish pub.

I used to find West to East (ie US to UK) jetlag a bugger, fortunately I always used to manage it so that I didn't have to work on the day of arrival so I had plenty of time to recover. It also helped being 20 years younger than I am now. A few drinks, a couple of Kalms (other herbal sleep aids are available), headphones on with some soothing music (Bill Frissell was always my go-to choice) and I could usually get a decent amount of kip.

East-West was never a problem, just stay up as late as possible on the first day to reset.

I never have a problem going East or coming back the UK. Going to the US kills me.

I do drink on flights but I also drink a lot of water. Coming back from China for example I drank 2 1/2 litres of bottled water.
That makes a real difference.