OxBlog

Comments:

Alcohol plus immobility plus dry air plus jetlag is likely to lead to increased discomfort - at least once the initial stupor is gone.

# posted by

Anonymous : 9:11 PM

Dramamine is my flying drug of choice. Take two 15 minutes before boarding and fly oblivion airlines the rest of the way.

# posted by

Y.H.N. : 10:52 PM

Ha. Take a stroll around the airport in Helsinki, Finland and they are drinking before 0700 as they get ready to fly out on vacation. "Beer Warriors" some call them as they don't stop until returning from vacation.

# posted by

Fred Fry : 11:47 PM

Because airport security's hatred of travellers combined with airlines' hatred of paying customers makes flying much more stressful than the sum of its parts. Plus, travelling is basically dead time where "normal" rules of life are suspended.

As for myself, however, I'm with milan. I don't drink during and for a least a day after the flight. Jet lag's bad enough without dealing with the alcohol.

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:16 AM

It is merely self medication for fear of flying. My son has always had a fear of flying from a young age, whenever we go to an airport I point out the packed bars (at almost any hour of the day) just to remind him that he isn't the only one that dislikes flying.

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:16 AM

Airports are the last redoubt of an older era. The four martini lunch? gone. Bottle of scotch in the desk drawer? now hidden instead of a point of pride.

Heck, at many companies having a beer at lunch is now considered suspect. God bless the tavern I used to lunch at in the 90s. A roast beef sandwich (dipped) was $7. The special was the same thing plus a pint of domestic was $7.

Lay off. Our founders were smashed half the time so a couple drinks might be just the adjustment this country needs.

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:32 AM

I Fly first class ,not for the bragging rights, but for the free booze. I hate, hate to fly, and the alcohol helps me quite a bit. Meeting my maker sauced be damned!

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:39 AM

I've always thought it odd that on a short 45-minute hop, just time enough to climb and immediately descend, the one thing the flight attendants manage to accomplish is to sell a round of booze. I mean, you can't go 45 minutes without a vodka?

# posted by

Kevin : 12:59 AM

TO: David Adesnik
RE: Drinking & Flying

"The guy beside me just ordered a wine. It's 9 in the morning and what's worse, it's only 7 where we are going to land in less than and hour." -- David Adesnik

Can't say for sure, but I can think of a number of possibilities.

[1] This guy had been up since way long ago and it's past 5 o'clock by his biological clock.

[2] He's recovering/anesthetizing himself from a tragedy.

[3] He's a creative genius for whom alcohol lubricates his synapse.

[4] He has different social values than you do.

I recently finished a book titled The Patriots. It's an historical accounting of the people who lead US up to and through the Revolutionary War.

I recall reading in there that some of the Founding Fathers drank a pint of porter as part of their breakfast before going off to school at Harvard....when they were 14 years of age.

In other words....

...get off it.

Our biggest problem with teenage drinking is that they DON'T at an earlier age.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
P.S. I know that one of the best database designers who says he does his best work at 2 am, after 7 scotches.

# posted by

Anonymous : 5:12 AM

P.P.S. As for scotch with ones danish....BLEECH!

Get a split of champagne....

The Officers Club at Fort Bragg offers wonderful pineapple fritters for Sunday brunch that go VERY well with champagne.

# posted by

Anonymous : 5:17 AM

1. TSA a-holes
2. Airline a-holes
3. Screaming kids on the plane
4. A seat squeezed between two of the morbidly obese
5. Constantly being stepped over to go to the lavatory
6. Impossibility of sleeping in such cramped conditions

How many more reasons do you need?

# posted by

Anonymous : 6:01 AM

TO: Adam
RE: Why....

"How many more reasons do you need?" -- Adam

...am I suddenly in the mood to watch Airplane?

Stryker has a drinking problem. He keeps tossing his shots into his eye, instead of his mouth.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
P.S. Reason #7...

The guy is sitting next to Dave?

# posted by

Anonymous : 6:11 AM

It's for the same reasons there are stewardesses. It's to show the public that flying through the air is not merely for the brave, so climb right into our Ford Trimotor. The drinks are for the stewardesses not completely working to achieve this confident state.

# posted by

rhhardin : 6:41 AM

More to the point, why do people who would otherwise never consider drinking generic tomato juice from a can alway order it when they sit next to me on a plane?

Were they not at that Kentucky Derby pre-game in 1992 where the god Pan taught me that drinking a whole bottle of Tobasco (diluted though it was) before 9am is a bad thing?

Seems everyone else I meet was...

# posted by

Maddad : 9:18 AM

Dutch Courage used to be the phrase.

# posted by

Fat Man : 10:49 AM

There are cultures where beer is a breakfast beverage, God bless them. *shrug* I'm more apt to go for the mimosa, myself...

Now, if you're looking for something imporant to get pissed off about, Midwest doesn't serve their warm chocolate chip cookies on flights that depart before 10 a.m. WTF!?!?!

# posted by

HeatherRadish : 11:17 AM

I remember seeing a cartoon in a New Yorker collection years ago, from the dawn of the airline era. An elderly lady is being offered a drink by the flight attendant (stewardess, then...) and the caption was, "No thank you. I don't think God intended us to drink while flying."

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:22 PM

TO: David Adesnik
RE: Apologies

I mis-identified you as the original poster based on mis-information at InstaPundit.

TO: Taylor Owens
RE: Okay....

...anywhere you see me mention Dave, think you yourself.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[If you REALLY want to foul things up, use a computer.]

# posted by

Anonymous : 1:57 PM

Ah come on, if we weren't meant to drink before noon, why did god invent Screwdrivers and Bloody Marys?

Although scotch with a danish sounds horrid - I'd go with the Irish Coffee :-).

td

# posted by

Anonymous : 3:05 PM

The really true reason is that people drinking at 9AM in an airport are virtually all alcoholics. Going several hours without a drink is torture for them. Furthermore, they can rationalize that other people don't see it as drinking in the morning since they could have just flown in from another time zone and it could just be drinking very late. Not that a non-alcaholic would never drink at 9AM, but statistically almost everyone who is drinking then has an alcohol abuse proplem.

# posted by

Anonymous : 5:57 PM

TO: All
RE: How To Recognize a True 'A--'

"The really true reason is that people drinking at 9AM in an airport are virtually all alcoholics. Going several hours without a drink is torture for them." -- Anonymouse

Regards,

Chuck(le)
P.S. My ex accused me of being an alcoholic.

I went for a month without alcohol.

She still accused me of such....

You remind me of her.

What's your name? And where do you live?

# posted by

Anonymous : 7:44 PM

TO: Anonymouse
RE: A Modest Proposal

Got the gonads to put your money where your mouth is?

Care to make a little wager?

I could use $10,000.

I'll go a month without alcohol if you'll pay me $10,000 afterwards.

Otherwise, shut your cake-hole, you gutless Latter-Day Prohibitionist Nazi.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[The proof of the pudding....]

# posted by

Anonymous : 7:52 PM

OH PLEASE!! People are drinking in the airport at 7AM because they have an 8:00 AM flight. Duh!

I do it everytime I fly. I don't care if it causes jet lag. I don't care about anything at all I'm so stressed out.

Get your own life and leave me alone. I probably just think you are glaring at me because you are some sort of perv trying to pick me up.

# posted by

Anonymous : 9:05 PM

And trust me - the Airlines will never do away with those little bottles. Nor should you want them to. Do you really want me to faint or freak or grab you by the throat and scream, "we are all going to die?!!" There are at least 10 of us on every plane. Yeah - I know, cause I can see and smell the fear in the others just like me. Just keep that alcohol coming at a nice steady pace and everything will be just fine.

And No, I'm not anything even close to an alcoholic.

# posted by

Anonymous : 9:35 PM

I am terribly sorry for insulting anyone. I obviously do not mean YOU have an alcohol problem, because I have no idea who you are. But it's a statistical argument. If 1,000 people drink occasionally in the morning and 1,000 people drink in the morning almost every day, the large majority of people drinking at 8 AM will be people who are at a bar at 8 AM will be people who drink at 8 AM almost every day. (obviously in weblog comments it would go back to being 50%) Clearly the stress of flying can shift numbers a little, but I still would bet that most of the people who are drinking at 8 AM in an airport, drink are people who regularly drink at 8 AM. (Not you of course - I have no idea who you are.) And that feeling the need to have a drink as soon as you wake up almost every day is a good sign of some problem with how you handle alcohol to one degree or another. If this was a hotel bar, I would say 99% alcohol problem (not you-the odds are different for weblog commenters and I don't know who you are anyway.) As people point out an airport is more stressful, the percentages would be somewhat different. If by freak coincidence there is someone reading this who does feel like they can't start a good day without a drink, (not you of course.) than maybe think about what that really means for you and what you want out of life. I'm sorry about the anonymity. I didn't think anyone cared, and it was one less button to push.

# posted by

Mike : 10:13 PM

I'll meet you half way, Mike. It is true that one of the typical alcoholic's favorite things about flying is that it is perfectly socially acceptable to have a drink at 8 AM in the airport bar. HOWEVER, that does not in any way mean that most people in the airport bar at 8 AM are alcoholics. Some are, sure. But most are nervous flyers.

That's where the whole "socially acceptable" thing that alcoholics love so much comes from--from the fact that many perfectly normal people need a drink to fly calmly, no mattter the time of day.

P.S. "anonymous" matters a lot if you want your post to be taken seriously.

# posted by

tim maguire : 3:05 PM

I drink for a variety of reasons before flying. For example, if I know that I'm going to be watching some stupid film for a while, because I don't have work to do on a daytime transatlantic flight. I enjoy watching films more when I'm slightly less sober. I'm not going to have any responsibilities for a while. I get good free alcohol in the lounge.

Most days I don't drink in the morning because I'm not wanting to dumb myself down, I plan on doing something productive with my time or have some form of responsibility, and/ or I'm going to have to pay for any alcohol I drink. I'm very, very far from being an alcoholic, although I've taken up weekly tutored wine tastings recently that have roughly quadrupled my intake.

# posted by

James of England : 9:48 PM