I fly in China and it used to be a mandatory requirement to breathalyse to check-in before the virus. Everyone does it; pilots, cabin crew, engineers, ground staff and it takes maybe 10 seconds. Breathalyser was connected directly to the CAAC and a camera recorded you swiping your ID, entering your crew number and blowing and there were various limits that were not absolute zero.
Since the virus it's random checks with a hand held kit that is less accurate but there is a tolerance and retesting can be done with another kit.
Everyone knows it's coming and everyone complies. Odd case where a pilot is over and taken off the duty and given a stern talking to and help as required but not loss of career/jail time as in the west. You don't get a third chance though. Also if you happen to think you may blow over you can actually request a pre-test, see what you blow and then decide that it isn't a good day to fly after all.
In my opinion it's a better system as (at least before the spicy cough) everyone is checked at every report all the time and it's not onerous, there are margins, you can pre-test and safety is maintained. Verus the random and seldom checks in the west which can lead to a feeling of favouritism or persecution amongst different groups. Plus the random checks - In over a decade flying in Europe I was 'almost' tested once on the ramp in AMS but the pax started to board and the police said they wouldn't do it in front of them as even they knew how bad it looked - means that there must be some desperate folk getting through the very wide net reasonably often. Not drunk; just over the limit. There is a big difference.
I also think that pilots being a hair over an alcohol limit is closer to a moral panic in the media versus pilots hanging out of their straps, punch-drunk fatigued at the end of a block of monstrous duties that the CAA/EASA just turn a blind eye to. Why? Because you can't measure fatigue on a little gadget that gives you a lovely little number to two decimal places that you can compare to an arbitrary limit.
