Penny pinching at Heathrow

[SLeanne]

We are due to go away soon from Heathrow T4. OH and I like a couple of drinks before the flight (at 9pm). However, I was shocked last time that a glass of wine is over £10 a glass. If we are discreet, could we get away with buying a bottle in Duty Free and drinking it before the flight (and disposing of the empty bottle before boarding). I know it's not allowed but has anyone done it before and got away with it? Quite frankly I'm getting sick of having to spend C 100 quid for something to eat and a couple of drinks each (family of 4) and am looking at ways of cheating the system 🤔

Are you proposing to drink it in the bar? Why not get some spirits and order a soft drink.

but yeah - it’s a bit weird that you can’t cope without a drink before the flight

Are you really that desperate for a drink?

Food and drinks are free on the flight, but I neither want to eat nor drink at that time.

FFS. Pay up, or go without!

Trampy

No more desperate than anyone who buys a drink at an airport pub. And they are always full from my experience. I just don't want to pay 5 times the price for it.

Ignore the haters OP! I don't even drink, but if someone tried to deny me my pre-flight Starbucks I'd be seriously unimpressed! It's part of the experience 😊

New idea - buy the bottle, bring 2 empty, non-transparent water bottles, fill said water bottles somewhere quiet, continue as planned 😏

@SLeanne I couldn't imagine affording a holiday and then moaning about the price of a drink.
Try being classy not Trashy

Honestly I can't imagine anything less appealing than sneaking a bottle of wine into an airport and then drinking it on the sly while my kids were there. It's all a bit Shameless tbh 😂

What are you actually asking? Might you get away with it? Yeah, maybe you will. Would I do it? Nope! Wouldn't even cross my mind

This is everything that is wrong with the British drinking culture.

I’m not sure buying a glass of wine in a bar is desperate, but sitting with your take out pouring it into a snaffled glass is a bit,

just go and buy a glass of wine each,

you’ll ask a bar for two empty glasses?

So you go to a bar, get a table for 4, order nothing except ice water then leg it with the glasses to drink in a corner?? That’s just so weird! And FYI last time I bought duty free booze (champagne for the family we were staying with) the bag was sealed and I think the point was that we weren’t to open it. Also, for the same reason nothing is refrigerated so it would be warm.

If you’re really that cheap and that desperate you could bring spirit miniatures from home as those are only 50ml and shotting them will be far more discreet than stealing glasses from a bar or swigging out of the duty free bag.

Or just be normal and go to spoons or get a lounge pass.

Think she’s going to get her kid to ask for water then use that glass.

I didn't even know you can't drink in the airport unless you buy it in a bar and I fly a lot! How have I missed this?

Never done it in heathrow as I'm always flying out in the mornings but often in duty free on the way back I'll buy one of those single serve bottles with the plastic cup stuck to the top and drink it in the airport! Never realised i wasn't meant to and no ones ever said anything. But then I'm a smoker and usually having it in the smoking area and I've definitely seen people drinking cans of beer there.

So you’re actually planning your pre flight drinks for the christmas holidays?m
Bloomin heck Op, you sound desperate for that pre flight booze

Why not just go the whole hog and chug it down in the carpark ffs 😂?

Why do ppl on MN always have to make snide / unkind comments? I also don't agree with paying £2 plus for a bottle of water from WH Smith, when you can ask at the pub to refill your own bottle from the tap, or a water fountain where available. Or paying £2 for a mini box of pringles on certain airlines when you can take your own from the supermarket. Is that also unacceptable? Or is it just because wine is involved that people start to be judgemental?

Yawn

Yep, it implies that you have a need for alcohol.

I don't see the issue at all. Take a couple of disposable cups and some food.

Loads of people enjoy a drink on or before a flight. I don't drink but even I can understand that.

I use the lounges and I'm a bit surprised at how early in the morning some people start drinking but maybe they are getting ready to be in a different time zone.

how are you going to get the empty glasses from the bar Op?

oh it gets better!