Well, I'm a flight attendant and I work for Cal. Here's my take on it. Yes there are some poeple in every walk of life that have power trips and use thier position wrongly. Whether or not this was the case, I don't know. The best post in the whole thread was by the pilot.

Yes, we are strictly prohibited from boarding anyone that "appears to be intoxicated". Granted, this is subject to interpretation, but we are strictly bound by it. For someone who doesn't drink, it may be the presence of alcohol on the breath. I do drink, and as long as someone is behaving themselves, I don't care if they have been drinking. We've all heard too many horror stories of someone that went rapidly downhill after getting airborn. Any captain worth his salt will implicitly back his cabin crew, as we are his eyes and ears.

If I drink when I am flying (as a passenger of course), it's "yes maam, no maam, please, thank you", period.