Drinking a cold pint or glass of champagne at the airport before heading off on holiday is a long-standing British tradition.
Whether it’s accompanying a full English breakfast at 6 a.m. or accompanying your dinner at 6 p.m., a trip to Wetherspoons for a celebratory drink is almost always factored into travel schedules .
However, airport pint prices can be high, meaning travelers fork out more money before they even get on the plane.
So, to help Brits decide the best place to grab a pre-holiday drink, a luxury travel service Veloy has revealed the cheapest and most expensive airports to grab a drink.
After analyzing the Google reviews and drinks menus of 87 establishments across the UK’s 15 most popular airports, the membership service has launched its first ‘Airport Pint and Prosecco Index’.
Whether it’s accompanying a full English breakfast at 6 a.m. or accompanying your dinner at 6 p.m., a trip to Wetherspoons for a celebratory drink is almost always factored into travel schedules (stock image)
The results reveal that in 2024 the average cost of a pre-holiday pint at a UK airport is £6.75 and the average price of a glass of prosecco is £9.59.
If you’re looking for the cheapest pint before the flight, you need to fly into Glasgow International Airport, where it costs on average £6.06.
The second most affordable airport is Manchester (£6.33), closely followed by East Midlands International (£6.44) and London Stansted (£6.60).
Edinburgh completes the top five, with a standard pint costing around £6.61.
Meanwhile, the most expensive place for a pint was found to be London Luton, costing travelers around £7.36 for a drink.
Newcastle International (£6.96), London City (£6.98) and Heathrow (£7.14) were also in the more expensive half of the rankings.
If beer isn’t your thing and you prefer a glass of fizz, the cheapest option for you is East Midlands International Airport, where a flute costs on average £8.33.
Manchester is second most affordable for just a penny more at £8.34, with London Luton in third place (£8.69) and Edinburgh in fifth (£8.88).
Heathrow is in fifth place, where it will cost you around £8.96 per drink.
Manchester is second most affordable for just a penny more at £8.34, with London Luton in third place (£8.69) and Edinburgh in fifth (£8.88).
The most expensive airport for prosecco was found to be Leeds Bradford, at £11.38 each, with London City (£11.29) and Liverpool John Lennon (£10.60) slightly cheaper.
Fourth on the slope scale is Belfast International (£10.26), followed by Bristol (£9.91) in fifth.
As well as discovering the most expensive and most affordable airports on average for drinks, the study also looked at specific pubs within these airports, comparing them to each other.
Glasgow International’s Tennent’s Pier Bar has been discovered as the most affordable establishment for a pre-holiday pint, charging travelers £4.79.
In comparison, the London Pride By Fullers at Heathrow was found to be the most expensive place for a pint, with the average pint on tap costing £10.05.
When analyzing prosecco costs, it turned out that Heathrow was home to both the cheapest and most expensive establishments.
Gordon Ramsay Plane Food was discovered to be the most expensive place to have a drink, with a glass of prosecco costing travelers an average of £12.50, while its neighbor Star Light Wetherspoons is the most affordable, costing an average of £6 £.20.
Hugo Cannon, founder of Velloy, said: “For many, there is no better way to start a holiday than a pint at the airport or a glass of prosecco to get that ‘going away’ feeling.
“As a British holiday staple, we wanted to find out which airports have the cheapest and best pre-flight drinks, and we thought: what better guide for travelers than an index revealing where they can find the drinks the most affordable and highest rated.
“If you’re trying to decide whether to start your holiday at Gatwick or Heathrow in London, or Manchester or Liverpool, we hope our index will prove useful to any keen travelers who want to start their journey with a drink of party ! »