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

😂😂 Nailed it!

5.00 a.m. in an airport when you've been up for 3-4 hrs is just the same as a lunchtime drink on a normal day, which isn't that unheard of when you on hols.

By the time you get up, have checked packing and documents, travelled, gone through airport checks, often 5 hours or so have passed so it's basically lunchtime for your body. Time for a celebration drink!

I don't mind people drinking that early at airports, why shouldn't they? They've worked hard all year and are now on holiday.

i am a really nervous flyer and the first thing I do is get a large glass of wine to help with nerves - whatever the time! I have taken medication too but I just don’t always have time to go to a doctor. I know it’s not a good look at 5am but it really helps me 😬

I was flying long haul last week, three flights from Ireland to Oz. It was bloody hard to work out what time it was supposed to be, at one point I was having a mango pudding and a G & T and worked out that in my normal time zone it was 6AM, So maybe they are just bewildered, I know I was!

If set on having a drink, at least pair it with something small — even toast, crackers, or fruit — and drink water alongside.

Once I’m all checked in then I’m on holiday mode. I don’t drink much even on holiday , some nights I had no alcohol other nights I had 1 or 2. One night had had 5 and that was the most I had all holiday.

we do always have 2 drinks at the airport, no matter the time, I’m not a fan of taking off so it just helps me relax a little.

Im a 5am airport drinker for multiple reasons firstly im terrified of flying so need some courage, secondly its the start of the holiday and thirdly I live nowhere near an airport so likely will have been up for several hours by that point so its basically lunch time to my body

I am always shocked by it. Cup of tea for me at that time!

Holiday mode I suppose. If I’m at the airport at 5am I’ll usually have arrived there at say 3am, which means I’ve left my home at 1, which means I probably haven’t been to bed yet and it’s still the previous evening for me while you are having your breakfast. Normal time doesn’t apply at airports.

By the time you get through security etc many people will have been up for 2-3 hours. So it doesn’t seem that unusual. If I could wake up at 9am and have a pint at 12, I could wake up at 2am and have a pint at 5am. Doesn’t really make a difference to me tbh. I am not scared of flying at all, but I do hate airports (artificial light, boring, people getting in the way) so it’s just a fun distraction.

A mimosa or chamoagne for me if flying from Heathrow at Fortnum and Mason. Also, eggs and soldiers and a pot of tea. Such a treat!

Excitement or nerves probably. There's something about the airport that has me feeling like a kid at Christmas!

One of my close friends always has a pint of lager at the airport no matter what time she gets there. It's her signal to say that she is on holiday and can loosen up a bit. She is not a big drinker at all. This is just her holiday routine.

definetly a UK thing... I fly in and out of the UK each year, and I only really see it there. (maybe there are other countries where it is a tradition as well, that I haven't flow in or out of?)

But yeah, any time of the day, no matter how early, the bar/restaurants in UK airports seem full.

I can only put it down to tradition? Families just have it as their holiday/travel tradition, that they go to the airport and have a drink before flying.

I don't buy that it is because of fear, because again, it doesn't happen in many other countries (where people are equally scared of flying). So it must just be a cultural/tradition thing? I can imagine how if that is what my parents did when I was young, I would just associate airport = drink as part of the 'holiday experience' from a young age.

Have I misunderstood something? Where does the op say they were at Luton?

My nearest airport is a international one so the people drinking could be waiting for the next leg of their flight . Or coming home from holiday, or as pp have said starting their holiday after been up for for or five hrs.

I would definitely agree with the scared of flying thing! Also, they are on their holidays, and it’s probably just a bit of excitement over that really. Being on holiday is probably the only time I would have a drink before midday, though I honestly can’t imagine having a drink that early. But perhaps if I’ve been up, and waiting in the airport for ages! Who knows!

I think somehow the big, bright soulless airport makes time of day sort of disappear.

Maybe not at 5 am but will happily have a bloody mary at the airport before a flight at a time of day when I would never have one in "real life"

It marks the start of the break for us and it seems very carefree and holiday-ish

Alcoholism.
Same on a train journey longer than 20 mins, there’s always someone cracking open those wee cans of g&t.

I love the Justification "it is basically lunchtime "😂

This is it - you've been up for ages already, airports feel outside time, especially if you're going to be flying a long way. Having a drink just adds to that other-worldly feeling. Which is fun when you're going on holiday!

This resonates with me. Normally I wouldn't consider a drink until after the sun was 'over the yard arm', but long haul, and Heathrow are a in a different time dimension. I frequently go with my sister to visit our brother in Western Australia which is a 17 hour non-stop flight. I get up at 3am - taxi at 5am down to Heathrow (only airport that does the non-stop). Every time it is tradition that we go to a paticular restaurant and have a lovely breakfast, pulling out all the stops, which always includes a bottle of prosecco. We spend a good hour (or longer if they will let us) whiling away that awful long haul wait time. To us it says 'the holiday starts here'. We are off there again in Oct for a family wedding and will certainly be partaking of a glass of bubbles with our brekkie!

often if I am at the airport at 5 it’s because I have not been to bed yet. This year I didn’t manage to get shut down with work until almost midnight, I had to leave at 1:30am to allow for the long travel to the airport so when I had my g &t with breakfast it really didn’t feel like morning. I hate the whole experience of travelling to the airport, checking in, going through security etc so once I am in the lounge I celebrate with my holiday starts here drink. I tend to travel long haul, I will also have another g &t on the plane and then try and snooze for most of the flight as I am tired from pulling an all nighter. I land feeling a bit more in the new time zone and find I have no issues settling into being 5/6 hours behind. That’s why I do it, I’m not a raging alcoholic and on a normal day wouldn’t touch a drop until evening (or midday if out for a nice lunch)

Dinosaurs from the old drinking culture.