The last time i flew co int'l was in 2001 and they gave me free alcohol then, though i remember getting free alcohol on my Maui trip in dec 2004. That brings up an interesting point about US based airlines and others.

US airlines are trimming down on anything that generates an expense, which obviously puts them at a disadvantage compared to EU/Asian carriers, but I fail to understand why the US carriers can't make that up with better FA service during the flight. That doesn't cost much, why can't the FA's be better, I think they should send them to Singapore Airlines for training their FAs. Man am i impressed, here's one small example on a 7.5 hr flight from brisbane to singapore, i was sitting close to the lavatory right in front of me, every 30 minutes, a FA would come and check and spruce it up by wiping the counter or whatever, it happened every 30 mins, the last time i saw that on a US carrier was never.

The Asian carriers are light years ahead of the rest of the world in service and i am sure that doesn't cost much.