Will my two underage sons be allowed inside US bars?

Simon Calder answers your questions on drinking in the US, late check-ins, Valencia travel tips and flight rebookings

Booze ban: the 21-plus rule tends to be strictly enforced over the pond (Alamy)

Q I love the US and am looking at visiting some new states. I was wondering if my sons, aged 18 and 20, would be allowed in bars and restaurants in Memphis, Nashville and Louisiana in the tourist hot spots?

Bradley B

A I love the US too. But America’s alcohol laws are not compatible with a holiday for young adults like your sons if they like a drink.

In 1984 Washington DC imposed an age limit of 21 across the nation; before that, some states could impose lower limits. But the Centers for Disease Control – the federal health agency – says the list has many benefits. There are fewer road accidents, “adverse birth outcomes” and homicides as a result.

There are some weirdnesses, though. For example, under Tennessee alcohol laws your sons are technically old enough to work as bartenders (unless the “establishment permits smoking on the premises” in which case they would have to be at least 21). But they cannot drink. This 21-plus rule is strictly enforced. Indeed, you will need to take your own photo ID – preferably a passport – if you want to buy alcohol in a bar, restaurant or store. The state’s Alcoholic Beverage Commission requires the establishment to check the identity of “any person who does not reasonably appear to be an age of fifty (50) years or older”.

So that rules out a night on the town in Memphis and Nashville, both of them fabulous cities in other respects. The legal drinking age is 21 in Louisiana as well, of course, though your sons will be able to watch you enjoying a beer or two in New Orleans; they are allowed inside drinking venues with “a parent, guardian, or spouse of legal drinking age”.

It sounds as though this could take the edge off your trip, so I urge you to consider postponing the trip by three years. You might want to visit loveable Canada instead: the legal drinking age is 19 in most provinces, but only 18 in Quebec, Manitoba and Alberta.

Many unlucky travellers will know how harshly the check-in time is enforced (Getty)

Q Here’s a situation I am concerned about – having heard, second hand, that it happens. Suppose I turn up at a self-service baggage terminal just under an hour before departure. If the machine says it’s too late to check your bag in, is that it? You have to miss the flight? Or is there a way around it?

Philip G

A Airline check-in deadlines are increasingly strictly enforced. If the carrier stipulates you need to be there one hour before departure, and you arrive 59 minutes ahead, then you have a problem. Contractually, you have failed to adhere to the airline’s requirement, and therefore it is likely you will not be able to travel on your booked flight. However, there may be some “wriggle room” and, in my experience, staff in smaller, quieter airports are kind to passengers who arrive, breathless and perspiring, a few minutes too late.

But you cannot rely on flexibility. Whether the computer check-in system or a human says “no”, you are in a pickle if you arrive late. You could opt not to check in the bag and instead take it as hand luggage, if it is not unfeasibly large, but you would need to accept that you will need to pay a hefty fee – perhaps £50 – at the gate. That is still probably cheaper and certainly less stressful than missing the flight.

While I am on the subject: the progressive extension of check-in deadlines is annoying. When easyJet and Ryanair started flying, for example, the requirement was simply to arrive at the airport check-in desk at least 20 minutes before departure (with luggage and all, which in those days was carried free). Those limits have gradually extended, along with many other airlines, to reflect the uncertain time taken at airport security and to give the ground operation plenty of slack. I am writing aboard a KLM plane from London City – for which the deadline to be at the departure gate was 25 minutes ahead of the flight time; I am old enough to remember when the big selling point at “LCY” was a 10-minute check-in at the desk.

Many airlines have a minimum of an hour at busy airports, even for those of us who have only cabin baggage. The airports are happy, of course, because the earlier passengers are required to arrive at the airport, the more “dwell time” they have to shop, eat and drink.

The Plaza de la Virgen (Square of Virgin Saint Mary) in Valencia’s old town (Getty)

Q We will be staying at a villa near Valencia from 25 May to 1 June. I’ve had a look at direct flights and they’re more than I was expecting. Do you have any tips? I don’t mind leaving Valencia early if it means I miss Saturday pricing. I’m also open to flying to Madrid and getting a train, or even staying a few days in Madrid.

Olivia C

A Valencia is an alluring city with a beautiful hinterland, and late May is an excellent time to be in the region. Lucky you. Except that your dates coincide with May half-term – when fare hikes are a long-standing annoyance, especially for a Saturday-to-Saturday spell. For your dates, the lowest cost for an easyJet return from London Gatwick to Valencia is £526. Exactly a week before your dates, the cheapest flights total £113 – barely one-fifth as much.

To reduce the absurd cost, travelling out via Madrid is an excellent idea. The Spanish capital is far less susceptible than cities on the Costas to school holiday fare rises. The cheapest deal I can see is £112 on Ryanair from London Stansted to Madrid, though this is an evening flight that will require a hotel stay before the onward train to Valencia. Thanks to the ferocious competition in Spain between high-speed train operators on Europe’s best intercity rail network, there is no need to pay more than €12 (£10) for the onward two-hour trip with Iryo to Valencia.

Coming home, you could reverse the process. But if I were you, I would grab the Friday evening (31 May) easyJet flight from Valencia to Gatwick now – it is currently selling at only £100 and will allow a full day in Spain before the 8.50pm departure. All these fares include only a small piece of cabin baggage, which for summer in Spain is really all you need.

Finally, if you are able to leave a little earlier, I strongly recommend spending 48 hours in Madrid before you depart for Valencia.

When an airline cancels a flight, European air passengers’ rights rules require it to offer an alternative ‘under comparable transport conditions at the earliest opportunity’ (Getty)

Q Months ago I booked a convenient early afternoon flight (2.50pm) from Barcelona to London Gatwick for mid-March. The airline appears now to have cancelled the flight, with nothing between around 11am and 7pm. Neither of these is suitable. I have been rebooked on the 11am flight but that would involve leaving the accommodation – some distance from Barcelona – unacceptably early. There are flights available on other airlines but they are much more expensive than the one I originally booked. Since this is no fault of my own, am I within my rights to my airline to buy me a ticket at approximately the original time on one of their rivals? It’s urgent because the trip is coming up and all the other flight prices are going up and up.

Georgiana T

A Morally, I think you have a good case. Midafternoon departures are preferred by many travellers for short-haul trips since they give plenty of scope either side of the flight to travel to and from the airports involved without excessively early starts or late finishes.

Legally, though, the position is different. When an airline cancels a flight, European air passengers’ rights rules require it to offer an alternative as close to the original as possible. The exact wording of the law, EC261, says passengers are entitled to “re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at the earliest opportunity”. This is very poorly expressed because you don’t want to be re-routed: you just want to be flown from Barcelona to Gatwick at a convenient time.

The airline will argue that flying you there four hours early is an acceptable enough alternative and it has no obligation to pay another carrier. As the flight has been cancelled, you have the option to cancel for a full refund. But if you are facing astronomical fares for a replacement at a convenient time, you will need to pay the extra. So, though no fault of yours, you are faced with spending a lot more money or making an inconveniently early start. All I can suggest is that you avoid the airline in the future.

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