Airports and Airlines Easing Access to Alcohol

Airports and airlines are making alcohol increasingly available, USA Today reported Nov. 30.

Airlines began promoting cocktails and other alcohol more heavily in the past year, according to consultant Jay Sorensen. “What's happening is airlines are becoming better retailers of products,” Sorensen said. “They're doing things to highlight the fact that, 'Yes, indeed, we do sell alcohol on the airplane.' They're trying to mimic what occurs on the ground in terms of consumer promotions.”

One example includes a “happy hour” offered by American Airlines for fliers purchasing alcohol on certain flights in the month of December. United Airlines gave passengers in its Economy Plus section free wine this past summer and now offers its own signature cocktail.

Airports are also finding more opportunities to sell alcohol to passengers. After Chicago's city council loosened regulations in July, O'Hare and Midway airports made it possible to sell alcohol 24 hours a day. Portland International, which had previously allowed cocktail and bottled alcohol sales at 7 a.m., got permission from Oregon state alcohol regulators in July 2009 to begin sales at 5 a.m. McCarran International in Las Vegas plans to open a liquor store at its baggage claim beginning in early 2011. 

Pauline Armbrust, of Airport Revenue News, said, “Alcohol has always played a key role [for] … concessionaires to profit and to pay healthy rents to the airport.”

Alcohol brings in about $20 million at O'Hare and about $8 million at Midway every year. Making it available around the clock is expected to bring O'Hare between $500,000 and $1 million dollars more each year, and Midway between $150,000 and $200,000 more. 

Critics of the new policies point to recent incidents where travelers were inebriated. In October, gate agents blocked two AirTran passengers — one in Los Angeles, the other in New Orleans — from boarding flights because they were intoxicated.

On Jan. 8, an AirTran passenger locked himself in the airplane's bathroom mid-flight and, according to USA Today, “tossed shoes down the aisle.” The flight, destined for San Francisco, had to set down in Colorado Springs, escorted by F-16s.

“That's probably the worst-case scenario,” said Chris White, an AirTran spokesman. However, he said, “it's not atypical to have any number of passengers that have a little too much to drink.”

In general, White said, passengers who become intoxicated can be cut off by flight attendants or prevented from boarding if the gate attendant believes them to be under the influence. 

“Most times,” he said, “it's our gate agents that will identify someone who has maybe had too much to drink, and then we'll talk to them and use our best judgment about whether to book them on the flight the next day,” place them on a later flight, “or allow them to continue on the original flight.”

Union representatives are concerned about the trend.

“It's too early to know what the effect will be, but making liquor more available to passengers certainly has the potential to create problems for airline workers, both in the terminals and on the aircraft,” said Frank Larkin, of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. “Their job is difficult enough without having to manage unruly passengers made worse by too many drinks.”