It was an apparently failed attempt at irony.

The poster I was responding to said that people on whose breath alcohol could be smelled are often barred from flying as a safety issue and that he didn't want to be aboard a plane with someone who might turn out to be a mean drunk. On the one hand in 3 million miles of flying I've never encountered a problem. And on the other hand, alcohol is readily available at airports and on board planes, so it must not be a major problem. Some flights to LAS or Hawaii have some pretty good parties going in F.

I agree with other comments that either there was something else going on which we haven't heard, or there was an over-reaction.