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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Can someone explain 5am airport drinking?

409 replies

Prenoden · 04/09/2025 06:52

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

OP posts:
Swg · 04/09/2025 08:23

Prenoden · 04/09/2025 06:52

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 don’t drink but as a really very much not early morning person it would be far easier for me to stay up for a five am flight than get up early. By the time they hit the bar they’ve travelled in, checked in done baggage so they must have started at at least 3 and I would not bother going to bed to get up at 3am. At that point my brain wouldn’t say early morning, too early to drink but very very late night.

ConnieHeart · 04/09/2025 08:23

Definitely not everyone

But it's all part of the holiday I suppose. I don't tend to ever drink at the airport (unless i get a free pass for the lounge!) but on the plane I always have a prosecco, no matter what time of day

notacooldad · 04/09/2025 08:26

Are they coming from a different time zone? I think tne op is on about people flying out not coming back.
You see it all the time with people flying out from their local airport. Its usually groups of friends who have got their holiday vibe on
They are a pain in the arse if you are on the same flight as them!!!!

Chompingatthebeat · 04/09/2025 08:26

Becsuse they're inferior to you op

Bjorkdidit · 04/09/2025 08:26

BCBird · 04/09/2025 07:18

For some people they see it as signifying the start of their holiday. Not for me, a Boots Meal Deal or a spritz of new perfume is my indicator😂

Edited

Same here. I don't ever wear perfume, but I always try on a selection when going through Duty Free. Pretty much the only time I buy a ready made sandwich either because I don't really like them. But I still look forwards to a Boots Meal Deal for the plane, for some reason.

For me, the holiday starts when I get through security because that's when I stop stressing about sleeping in (nearly all the flights we take at at 6-8 am so necessitate a 3/4 am start), crashing, flat tyre or motorway delay on the way to the airport, or hour long security queues and early arrival at the airport because nothing has gone wrong means that we have a good hour to wait to board.

I rarely drink at the airport on the way out but understand why people do, a lot of the time it signifies the start of their holiday.

On a regular trip we do, we always have brunch at Giraffe with a pint at Malaga airport at about 10/11 am on the way back and on our holidays in the Med, 11 am is 'beer o clock' and while we'll have a beer then, a couple with lunch, another one on the beach mid afternoon, a beer or G&T before we go out to dinner, one or two with dinner and then a night cap, we're never drunk, even though we've had a few drinks across the day because they're all small and well spaced.

But of course, on MN that would make us raging alcoholics for drinking more than a thimble full of sherry at Christmas.

Jenkibuble · 04/09/2025 08:27

Prenoden · 04/09/2025 06:52

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 used to work at an airport and it never ceased to amaze me too !

The prices more than anything would put me off even if I had the stomach for it !

ConnieHeart · 04/09/2025 08:31

AMillionTomorrows · 04/09/2025 07:52

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

Might be the case for a minority. For others it's a thing called holiday

VanessaSanessa · 04/09/2025 08:34

Wow, I never realised how many people are judging.

Live and let live as long as you aren't a nuisance on the plane.

I love the airport drink and one on the plane, signifies the start of the holiday, it's shifting in to a more relaxed mode, where time isn't as important as usual. Once it's 12pm on holidays, I'd also have a drink, just because I can and it's out of the ordinary.

NewWin · 04/09/2025 08:34

BitOutOfPractice · 04/09/2025 07:04

Because normal time has no meaning in an airport.

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

Why so rude? It was a reasonable question and your response is rude

Fingerscrossedfor2021HK · 04/09/2025 08:35

A glass of champagne in the lounge used to mark the start of the holiday pre-kids. Now the lounge is a place to get them to eat something before we grit our teeth and ensure the flight with two under threes in tow… wine only comes out once they are safely tucked up in bed for the night! I miss a 5am wine 😂

Rallentanda · 04/09/2025 08:35

Brits like drinking tales. Unbelievable amounts of alcohol or strange types of alcohol or ‘we pulled an all-nighter’, and this fits in. I think a lot more of us are alcoholics than we admit to and use our drinking culture to try to make light of it.
(Total killjoy sorry)

Berlinlover · 04/09/2025 08:36

As long as they’re not on my flight let them off.

WeAreExperiencingHigherNumberOfCallsThanUsual · 04/09/2025 08:37

Time exists differently at airports. It's a weird thing

BitOutOfPractice · 04/09/2025 08:37

Not quite sure why you quoted me @zaazaazoom Have you served me at 5am?

Shodan · 04/09/2025 08:37

It's not for me, but the Rules of Holiday apply once you're through passport control.

Like for me, the Rules of Holiday dictate that I drink Pina Coladas by the pool. I don't ever drink them at home, but I don't make the Rules, I just obey them.

TessTickle0 · 04/09/2025 08:39

CoastalCalm · 04/09/2025 07:17

Bloody Mary or an Espresso Martini for me please with a couple of rounds of toast , butter and jam

Ohhh I espresso martini is a good idea..that i could manage at 5am

BitOutOfPractice · 04/09/2025 08:40

NewWin · 04/09/2025 08:34

Why so rude? It was a reasonable question and your response is rude

Not really. The op was judgey and po faced despite their protestations. And it is such a mn trope to be faux puzzled that other people like / do different things to you. She doesn’t need it explaining to her. She just wants to sneer.

User364431 · 04/09/2025 08:40

Alcoholism obviously

JacknDiane · 04/09/2025 08:40

Letshavetea1 · 04/09/2025 07:43

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!

Oh do they have a F&M at Heathrow? That sounds absolutely lovely. I haven't been at Heathrow for nearly 20 years.

wizzywig · 04/09/2025 08:41

countrygirl99 · 04/09/2025 06:59

Unlikely at Luton

Nothing is unusual in Luton!! Haa haa

YippieKayakOtherBuckets · 04/09/2025 08:42

Because airports are liminal spaces where normal social conventions don't apply!

IamnotSethRogan · 04/09/2025 08:43

Just makes the airport a bit more tolerable.

ConnieHeart · 04/09/2025 08:44

User364431 · 04/09/2025 08:40

Alcoholism obviously

This is a joke right?

SimoneHere · 04/09/2025 08:57

Bjorkdidit · 04/09/2025 08:26

Same here. I don't ever wear perfume, but I always try on a selection when going through Duty Free. Pretty much the only time I buy a ready made sandwich either because I don't really like them. But I still look forwards to a Boots Meal Deal for the plane, for some reason.

For me, the holiday starts when I get through security because that's when I stop stressing about sleeping in (nearly all the flights we take at at 6-8 am so necessitate a 3/4 am start), crashing, flat tyre or motorway delay on the way to the airport, or hour long security queues and early arrival at the airport because nothing has gone wrong means that we have a good hour to wait to board.

I rarely drink at the airport on the way out but understand why people do, a lot of the time it signifies the start of their holiday.

On a regular trip we do, we always have brunch at Giraffe with a pint at Malaga airport at about 10/11 am on the way back and on our holidays in the Med, 11 am is 'beer o clock' and while we'll have a beer then, a couple with lunch, another one on the beach mid afternoon, a beer or G&T before we go out to dinner, one or two with dinner and then a night cap, we're never drunk, even though we've had a few drinks across the day because they're all small and well spaced.

But of course, on MN that would make us raging alcoholics for drinking more than a thimble full of sherry at Christmas.

You really have 8 drinks per day for most days of your holiday?

Genuinely just curious. I would have far too much coffee and cake, so definitely not judging! But alcohol-wise I’m a 1 glass of wine a week person, so it’s interesting to see how much it varies.

OneFlewOverMy · 04/09/2025 08:57

No surprise then that the plain toilet queue is never ending.

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