Can someone explain 5am airport drinking?

[Prenoden]

I'm not asking this as a kill joy or teetotaler, I enjoy a drink on holiday as much as anyone but how are people able to stomach pints at 5am?

Been on holiday recently and could barely eat before flight yet everyone else had pints/ g&t etc. It wasn't even mid morning it was 5am

I’m always impressed by the 5am pint drinkers fortitude! Anything harder than a tea or coffee before 12 noon would have me going for a lie down.

You might be surprised how many of them are scared of flying and use alcohol to cope.

Exactly, even though they are at hundreds of times greater risk on the journey to the airport.

I think it’s a mix, some people are just in holiday mode and may well have been up a long time to travel to the airport. Others don’t like flying and drink to take the edge off or some just hope it will help them sleep through their flight.

Are they coming from a different time zone?

Doesn't it come from 'the olden days' when licensing laws meant you couldn't have a pint in the pub in the morning or after 11pm?

It was a novelty to have a drink outside those times- now you can have a pint at 8am in 'spoons....

It also marks the start of the holiday :)

Unlikely at Luton

Holiday mode, sometimes people will have been up for many hours just to get to the airport and through check on. The holiday now begins.

I’ve never understood how people can stomach pints at 5am either. I’ll have a Bloody Mary please.

I guess it’s either a fear of flying or they just want to kick off their holiday with a celebratory pint! Personally I’d be asleep under the table and miss my flight if I tried it!

Airports exist outside of nornal time zones! 5am is just another time of day when you've been up for hours already to get there. It's not the same as 5am at home.

Never had a drink that early myself but I don't think it's that strange when the whole process of plane travel means your body clock and routine is all over the place anyway

I’ve had a few early morning flights and every single time Wetherspoons is always rammed with people drinking alcohol pre flight.Personally I can’t even eat at that time never mind drink alcohol.
I’ve heard people say that their holiday starts at the airport and drinking alcohol at any time of the day is part of the holiday ie,start as you mean to go on.

Because normal time has no meaning in an airport.

Hard to believe not everyone is like you isn’t it?

If it's an early morning flight it doesn't feel like a normal morning as I usually have been up for hours. Airport time is not normal time. I would never have a glass of wine at 5am usually but I will at the airport. It's being in holiday mode and also does help me relax as I don't love flying.

Completely with you, it absolutely has to be a bloody mary at that time of the morning!

It's not something I fancy, nor do I want to spend half the flight queuing for the loo.

I couldn't stomach it, and although I'm not adverse to a drink I have never been even slightly tempted to have a drink on a flight either no matter how long. But, people are different and have different circumstances and like different things 🤷‍♀️

Holidays start once you're on your way to the airport

I guess these people have been up for hours. I’ll have a breakfast champagne or mimosa at Heathrow, it’s tradition!

The same reason you think it's normal to pay £84 for a paperback booked published five years ago and £12.99 for a single bag of crisps.

normal rules don't apply in airports.

I think it's become a bit of a tradition. I'd do it if I wasn't on a holiday with the kids.

I find it weird that people can't eat or drink normally at 5am.

I could wake up and eat and drink anything - I don't understand how time affects what you eat.

If I am in the airport at 5am, its holiday time, I definitely enjoy a glass of wine for my nerves before boarding.

Because time doesn’t exist at the airport.

Novelty? Been travelling four hours so it feels a different time? Scared of flying? They just fancy it? They’re at the airport lounge and want to get their money’s worth in free drinks?