Airport Boozing Goes 24/7

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Jul 28, 2010 9:30PM

No matter how long you get stuck at O'Hare or Midway (provided the airline doesn't lose track of you) and no matter what time of day or night you're sitting in the gate area, at least there's one thing you can do unencumbered now: get wasted. Besides approving that third Wal-Mart, the City Council today also unanimously approved 24-hour liquor sales at the city's two airports as well as those alcohol-filled pushcarts. Previously, alcohol sales at airports were shut down between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m. every day except for Sunday when it was shut down from 3 a.m. to 10 a.m. A Sunday morning flight without a Bloody Mary to ease our nerves? The horror. Anyway, if booze is your pre-flight stress reliever instead of Xanax, all 32 restaurants at O'Hare and 11 at Midway with liquor licenses now have the OK to stay open 24/7 to keep you drunk before you hit the sky because, hey, what could go wrong?

As for those pushcarts, the Tribune explains:

The city Aviation Department will have the authority to sell 12 licenses for pushcarts at O'Hare International Airport and five at Midway International Airport. The pushcart licenses will cost $1,000 per year, and only companies that already have restaurant liquor licenses at the airports will be eligible.

So it'll be like Chili's Too except with crappy, over-priced whiskey instead of crappy, over-priced salads. Either way, we're excited for our airports to become our own little version of Bourbon Street, flashing lights included.