apaddyinuk,
Yes, indeed, free Hooch is always good ;-)... but
consider a passenger who gets his flight one way for 99 Euro to BOS like I got last year.. you know as well as I do there are a very many Irish who would drink that 99 euro in beer alone on that flight!
I dont have a problem with paying for booze, so long as the fares remain low and another side effect is that there have been far fewer incidents of air rage on board EI transatlatics this summer season than last.
One thing that does tick me off about EI across the atlantic these days though is the fact that they are quite mean with the complimentary soft drinks. To only offer one or two to your guests when they are with you for 6-11 hours isnt good enough... and we are more than guests.. we're paying guests!