On Tuesday, Noel Lawn was awaiting a flight back to Cork from Seville Airport when he spotted a man in his 20s dressed as a bishop.
Describing a “rowdy” group of men surrounding this bishop, the 70-year-old retired GP says they were “absolutely going for it, they were downing pints. Everybody was turning around looking at them”, describing fellow passengers “rolling their eyes”.
Lawn is originally from the United Kingdom, but settled in west Cork five years ago. Flying once or twice each year, he says he has witnessed drunk passengers in airports “at all hours”.
“As a GP, I think it’s really odd when people start drinking heavily out of hours,” he says.
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While he is not “anti-alcohol”, Lawn has “seen the damage” caused by it throughout his medical career, noting a “high crossover with antisocial behaviour”, particularly when holidays enter the mix.
He was one of dozens of readers to respond to an Irish Times call-out on the issue of pre-flight drinking after Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said airports should ban the sale of alcohol.
O’Leary said Ryanair is diverting nearly one flight each day on average because of bad behaviour on board, which he linked to pre-flight alcohol consumption.
Most readers, including one who said they “rarely agree with O’Leary about anything”, agreed with the Ryanair boss.
One described being “vomited on” by a “drunk passenger”, while others likened early mornings at Dublin Airport during the busy holiday season to “Temple Bar on a Friday night”.
Readers recalled groups of “very drunk” men vaping and shouting at each other mid-flight, who continued to be served alcohol and were “unable to speak properly by the time we landed”.
Others simply described pre-flight drinking in the early hours as “lunacy”.
Some, on the other hand, like Mary Mullany, have found that a “glass or two” of wine before a flight can be “very helpful” with sleep and reducing jet lag, believing some passengers “ruin it for everyone else”.
None of her flights has been disrupted by passengers under the influence, she says, adding: “But I’ve seen people knocking back pints ... and I’m thinking: ‘I hope I’m not on their flight’.”
The 64-year-old from Palmerstown, Dublin 20, who flies a couple of times each year, believes a few “well-publicised convictions might make people think twice about their behaviour”.
She, like several other readers, believes airlines should have the right to breathalyse passengers before boarding.
Anne Browne, a woman in her 50s living in Co Donegal, believes airlines should go a step further and ban the sale of alcohol during flights.
Many of the issues surrounding disruptive and “sometimes even violent passengers” could be eradicated if aircraft were alcohol free, she says.
“I’ve seen people getting on the plane who shouldn’t have been getting on the plane, and I’ve seen people drink on the plane when they shouldn’t be drinking,” she says.
John Scully, a 72-year-old originally from Mount Merrion in Dublin, has lived in Draguignan, France, with his wife since he retired in 2011.
Despite regularly flying back to Dublin to visit family, he says he has never seen passengers “pie-eyed” before or during flights from Nice.
He believes it is a UK and Irish issue, and while he “can understand” O’Leary’s problem, with passengers getting “over exuberant” on early morning flights, he does not believe in “nanny regulations”.
“We should be able to discipline ourselves,” he says.
“People should be able to drink responsibly if they want to. Why they would want to at six in the morning, I’ve no idea.”
Graeme McQueen, head of media relations at airport operator DAA, said Dublin Airport “on any given morning is more like Bewley’s on Grafton Street than Temple Bar”.
“It’s tea and caramel lattes that passengers can’t get enough of. We’ve great passengers at Dublin Airport – and Cork Airport too – but like every airport in the world, and indeed any place where alcohol is sold, there’s sometimes a bad egg whose behaviour can impact on everyone,” he said.
McQueen said DAA prides itself on “running airports that are enjoyable and stress-free for passengers”.
“We work closely with our Airport Police teams, our airline partners and An Garda Síochána to ensure any passenger that takes things too far is dealt with, making our airports safe and happy places for all.”
