The need or otherwise to be downing pints at 07.00 is that while it might be your 07.00, it might be someone else's 17.00 in this 24 hour a day business.

I found market forces to be quite an efficient regulator last month whilst passing through LCY.

The Euro footy was on, so the one and only bar was rammed with people glued to the box.

Cue me with a fiver to my name, thinking well I wouldn't normally pay rip-off airport prices, but oh what the hell.

Seem to recall the cheapest pint was in excess of 6?

Sobering....

... And the price of a 330 ml tin of beer onboard? £4! That's £6.88 a pint. (4/330*568.2612) and applies regardless if the airline has paid excise taxes or VAT.

No wonder people buy the 'cheaper' airport beers, or drink their duty free.

Sobering ...

A £5 a pint is pretty standard. In my local airport it's £5 a pint and we live in the provinces. That applies wether the airport has paid tax or not (and believe me nobody cares who pays tax to where - Its the catering companies charging the tax and not the airlines.).

In London or downtown Geneva you'll be lucky to get a pint anywhere pleasant for less than £6/7. You also conveniently neglect to mention the £5.20 double branded spirits and branded mixers onboard. You'll not get that in a wetherspoons in London. It's also around £30 for a full bottle of champagne. Or £16ish for a whole bottle of wine. Chain 'restaurant' prices. People will pay that on their twice weekly visits to Frankie and Benys or Pizza Express. Why should an aircraft be less expensive when it has all of the overheads associated with supplying catering on an aircraft.

People drink in airports because they know they'll be limited onboard and pre flight drinking won't stop, even if it was a free bar onboard. It's a chance to tank up pre flight and not have to wait for a trolley service to pass through the cabin and that's before the crews limit their supply or heaven forbid the captain decide to run a dry flight.

The airports have made the pre flight experience into a pub crawl, not £4 tins of warm beer onboard. Should we employ shooter girls selling £1 shots onboard?

No, but Hooters girls are always welcome :E

p.s. Just in case anyone wasn't aware:

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/...20141124232932

I see that Jet2 will BAN all on board booze sales BEFORE 8AM!

My goodness, they must be serious about this.

Sarcasm aside, if they wanted to be serious they would ban all booze sales and breathalyse all their passengers before boarding.

8AM, my goodness!

Are we allowed to draw conclusions about J2's pax? The good news is that Jet2 have clearly announced their demographic and that it does not include me.

I see Jet2 wants the airports to follow their lead and also ban alcohol sales before 8AM. Now how does that make any sense at all?

It doesn't. It's the evening and late afternoon beach flights that are the problem. I recall the occasional idiot but I don't recall and trouble on early flights. I think it's just a gesture to get free publicity for the airline

They should investigate the prices in the "Duty Free" shops. They seem so far removed from real duty free prices, they are probably breaking the trades description act, and guilty of false advertising.

Certainly are. Used to pick up crew orders from Saccone & Speed in Gib; proper duty free - and the drink of your choice whilst the order was collated :ok:

Not just the shops, the airlines also abuse the phrase 'duty free' as well. In particular on flights where in flight sales are exempt from excise tax and VAT but passengers are charged the same price as intra-EU flights.

We all know that Human beings want to pay the minimum to get the maximum. Tis has been unchanged in all recorded time. Nowadays, you 'pay less' by paying less - more often!

Drinking is an unpleasant part of British culture. Over the years do-gooders and unelected moral guardians have created dry-zones and restricted sales in such a way that people think they have to drink, just in case they can't. Add in rapacious sales outlets, greedy airlines and holiday spirit we have a recipe for drinking to excess.

As for control, I think we have enough law, all we have to do is apply it. I've bounced off quite a few and never had a problem.

PM