Ryanair boss calls for two-drink limit at airports to tackle disorder

girlfreddy@lemmy.ca to World News@lemmy.world – 93 points – Ryanair boss calls for two-drink limit at airports to tackle disorder
bbc.com

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."

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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.

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.

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.

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.

Ryan Air: No, it's the airports that are wrong.

What if we made airports less shit, so people weren't spending so much time there, so people weren't as stressed about missing their flights.

I have never been stressed to get on a bus, you roll up, put your shit in it, and get on. No massive waits, no massive security line, just get on and the bus leaves. We should make airports more like this.

Air travel is an infinitely more complex and involved problem to solve. There is no method of safely flying without going through mountains of bullshit first.

Much of the problem is related to TSA security theater. Cutting down on that alone would go a long way to improving the airport experience.

I’ve never had an issue with a non-torch zippo lighter when going through TSA checks. Ive never had an issue with a zippo while going through airport security checks in Japan. I’ve had non-torch zippos confiscated while going through all the following airports: LHR, CDG, FRA, HAM, BCN, MAD.

Most airport security is theater sure, but the most egregious theatrics haven’t been from the TSA in my experience.

TSA (obviously) isn't a thing outside of the US. Airport security does suck, but it's nowhere near as bad as it is when flying to America.

If flying during a quiet period, with all the right checks and few queues you can get through security in 5 mins. When it really fucking sucks is when it's busy, something airports should be able to deal with easily.

People get pissed at airports because they're on holiday mode with their mates, it's part of the holiday to have some beers at the airport. It's these kind of passengers that will be the issue, it's nothing to do with the design of the airport.

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"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.

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.

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

I dunno...maybe get people through the fucking airport before they can get that drunk

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.

Lol, maybe if conditions didn't get so shit in airports, fewer would crack

Let’s be honest. Any social norms about when drinking is socially acceptable go out the window at airports. It’s been that way as long as I can remember. But Ryan Air/Spirit/frontier passengers all kind of self select for having a miserable experience so I don’t blame them for trying to numb the pain.

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)

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.

Airport bars are crazy expensive too

Yeah, I used to drink a lot but getting loaded before a flight just makes the whole ordeal so much less tolerable.

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.

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.

When the Irish are telling you to cut down on the drinking, it might be time to cut down on the drinking.

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.

People are shit at flying period. You should have to pass a test before being sold an airline ticket. Nothing fancy. Just the basic do's and don'ts of flying. Perhaps a psychological test for good measure and no skin walkers.

Do line up window middle isle front to back.

Don't dick about in the aisle

Do sit down and stay seated

Don't recline seat ever. You're just fucking up the person behind you

Do leave both middle arm rests free for the poor bastard sitting there

Don't leave the window shade open if the sun's beating in.

No reclining? Fuck that shit-- most of my flights are long as hell and I'm not sitting ramrod straight for 14 hours. I can barely sleep as it is and those extra few degrees of tilt (plus a few beers) are the only thing that lets me get a couple hours passed out.