I'll ask the question again though - why does alcohol vs flying appear to be a predominantly UK problem?
I don't think alcohol vs. flying is the problem. Too much alcohol is the problem full stop. Binge drinking
appears to be all the rage in the UK right now, more than in recent years. I mean, have you been to certain urban "party zones" on a Fri or Sat night recently ?
Several articles in UK papers have highlighted the problem over the last months (I remember one article form the Observer, where the journo joined police on what the Law later referred to as a "quiet night", plenty of disturbances and several injured people).
And that behaviour will not improve when they travel abroard - in fact, tour operators specifically promote "UK Culture Awareness" among local staff, i.e. they are warned about the kind of behaviour they will experience from the lad(dette)s. Look at the job offerings at
http://www.senorstag.com, where the prospective clients (bound for Spain, and mainly "from the south of England") are described as being "typically drunk and loud" (I admit this is a Stag/Hen night oriented site, but still).
So the BA boys & girls have that nightstop. It's Helsinki, drinks are expensive, but what the heck, they're young and gorgeous, they work hard and they feel they ought to party hard. They have a drink or two to many. Maybe they opt to use some of that "typical" (not my words!) behaviour toward some lowly local hotel employee. Maybe somebody has an axe to grind, or otherwise feels that despite the cultural traditions on some island off the French coast, people under the influence (as defined in Finland) should not be in charge of an airplane, or its cabin. They alert the authorities.
Stand by for ppruners rushing to battle stations. Boo hiss! Bl**dy foreigners, can't take a joke, Hands off BA!, etc...
So after all, no I don't think alcohol vs flying is a predominantly UK problem. The binge drinking culture is.