I like the drink, what can I say. My stash is worth 14 bucks. To each is own.

The value of your "stash" is immaterial. I do not care if you are stashing rot gut or Dom Perignon. The problem is that if you must carry alcohol with you IN CASE you get cut off, then it is not a matter of just liking "the drink," it is a matter of addiction, or alcoholism.

AND, on an airplane, it is a matter of breaking the laws of most US states, the US Federal Government, and if internationally, of breaking the laws of most countries in the world.

By every definition, what you describe is drinking to excess. According to the US CDC, and found on the CDC website: "There is no one definition of moderate drinking, but generally the term is used to describe a lower-risk pattern of drinking. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, drinking in moderation is defined as having no more than 1 drink per day for women and no more than 2 drinks per day for men. This definition is referring to the amount consumed on any single day and is not intended as an average over several days." This is not a personal judgment, this is a rational conclusion based on a person's health and well being.

Relax. Have a drink.

Been into a Sky Club before? Do these people really look like “casual” drinkers? I think the people that keep a “reserve” or have a “plan B” for access to alcohol simply have learned over time, not to be dependent on other people when it comes to calming their nerves.

Passengers are generally nervous when they fly and most likely consume a little more than when not transiting inside of a metal tube with adolescent rules.

Excellent post, Bicostal! ^ I really wish more people were aware that the idea about the augmented effects of alcohol on flights is just a myth that has been proven false.

You can't fault the FA; they're doing their job. I got cut off once and didn't exactly like it, but understood that the FA did what she thought was best for everyone.

If anything bad happens, people can sue, FAs can get fired, etc. What irks me is not that the FA can get in trouble, but that because of everyone suing for everything things got out of hand. Pilots leave the seat belt sign on too much, people are prematurely cut off, etc. For a few bad apples, everybody is inconvenienced.:(

I think we can all agree on one thing....this would have never happened on a PMNW flight...

Your right! Old and boring aircraft but open bar the entire flight.

Adolescent rules? Are you for real about that? How about rules for safety and liability? I am all in favor of cutting thousands of people off to guard against one person who becomes unruly, or one person who defecates on the catering cart, or one person who argues with a FA, or one person who gets sick, or one person who gets intoxicated and crashes a car on the way home from the airport after the flight. FA's have no idea who they are dealing with, and no idea how anyone will react from too much to drink, and how it will affect their jobs or the other paxs. Erring on the side of caution is the only way to go.

How would you feel if you were the person who go thown up on, or if you were sitting next to someone who raised his voice by 15 decibels for each drink he tossed down, or something worse?

Once again, it's not a bar or a pub. It's not, as a previous poster indicated, a place to "get full". Those unknowns for which bars and pubs are willing to risk some liability are increased on an aircraft. They don't know how many the person had prior to boarding. They don't know if alcohol triggers violence in the passenger. They don't know if, in the 3 hours of the flight so far, the pax popped 2 Ambien as well that are set to go off like a timebomb. They also don't know if there is going to be an emergency that requires a minimum amount of clarity on the pax's part, so they are righfully cautious.

It doesn't matter if the pax knows his limits are better than average, it's the FA's call and when someone orders more than average in a small time frame, they cut the person off. Mostly because they are the ones going to have to deal with it and they are the ones hauled before a panel of lawyers, insurance adjusters and execs if something happens later.

I think if a person is obvoiusly intoxicated the FA should have the right ot cut the person off. I think the FA was out of line in the OP's case. IIRC MSP/LAS is only about a 3 1/2 hour flight so if they were 3 hours into the flight the OP probably wouldn't have had time for another drink after that one anyway. If he did, and the FA felt he was intoxicated shoudl have addressed the issue at the time.

I have seen plenty of drunk people in FC (none acting overly obnoxious) as welel as on Southwest flights to Vegas, and hav eseen people leave the Skyclub intoxicated and able to board. I have never seen a FA cut anyone off though.

One time I did use a free ticket on dtw/las on Southwest. It was a VERY LONG flight. Fortunately I didn't have to change planes but the plane went from DTW to MDW and then to ABQ and finally LAS. The plane was then contuing on to burbank and it was the same FA's the entire time and I believe they were also going on to BUR. I have a lot of free drink coupons that I don't get to use much and will admit I was drinking pretty heavy (Screwdrivers with 2 vodkas). When we landed at ABQ, I was the only through and after they deplaned in ABQ and we were waiting for passengers to board the one FA said she knew I had been on board since DTW and was wondering if I was planning on drinking on the ABQ/LAS segment and I said yes. She asked me if I was going to be driving when we landed in LAS or if had someone picking me up and I told her I was vacationing there and was taking a cab and she said that was fine. She told me she her concern was if I was going to be driving after we got to LAS but as long as I wasn't driving it wouldn't be an issue, so maybe the FA was concerned with a drunk driving incident? Not sure if a victim in drunk driving accident could sue the airline or not for not cutting off someone.

Whenever I'm pretty sure I won't get upgraded on an evening transcon, I'll sometimes take a couple of minis in my carry-on. To me it's just the difference in paying $.99 and $7...

I worked as a waiter and a bartender during my twenties and I can tell you that I cut off MANY people over the years after approximately 4 drinks. (hundreds, I imagine) I don't remember more than a handful that DIDN'T think I was being...

a. lazy
b. moralistic
c. ridiculous
d. a "d**khead"
e. all other

You name it, I've heard it. And yes, I've also heard people try to make the overly tired arguments the OP made about body weight or their ability to handle alcohol over time. Maybe you can, but how do I know this? Because for every guy that CAN handle it, there are more that simply cannot.

And I'll give you another tidbit that comes from years of serving alcohol: unless someone stands up (and not always even then), you can rarely tell that someone is drunk until it's WAY too late. People don't start slurring until their BA is WAY over the line. Which means you have to start counting drinks served because it's the only tool left that you can depend on. The policy at at least one of the establishments that I worked for was 4 drinks for "standard drinks" and 2 for "exotics" such as Long Island Iced Teas or Mai Tais, etc.

To the OP, I'm guessing you were at least mostly sober. But I doubt I would've served you a 5th drink either. It's the kind of thing that seems reasonable to you when you are sitting there for multiple hours with nothing to do but once you go and kill someone in a car seems completely indefensible to a jury after the fact. Trust me, I've seen it.

This FA should be commended for having the courage to do her job rather than just slipping you another drink to keep you from complaining. She served you 4 drinks, willingly and (it sounds like) cheerfully--with no idea how many you may have had on a previous flight or in the airport lounge. That seems like a good number---not sure how you can feel like 4 was overly strict. But that's just me. I can certainly understand feeling like it would be totally fine to have a fifth drink on your three hour flight, but if you had 2 in the skyclub or other airport bar, that could easily put you over the legal limit, which could've landed her in jail and DL in court (and in the newspapers) if you had gotten in a car and killed someone. And that's the rub. You can complain all you want about the heavy hand of a FA or DL, but the bottom line is the law has decided that they are liable for serving you.

The lazy bit cracks me up. "Lazy" servers and bartenders continue to serve to avoid the hassle of the inevitable confrontation. Trust me, it's WAY easier to just pour that 5th drink. In my experience, the guys that want that 5th drink typically don't just smile and say, "okay, well never mind--have a nice day, then!"

Better to cut someone off too early than too late.

Well the OP said he was flying MSP to LAS which is more than likely a PMNW FA, so there is a very good chance he never was offered a PDB:)

Yes. They can, and do.