etrang I think the ANO in the UK does indeed refer to our drink drive limit. I'm not sure re other countries but I would assume the same re their drink drive limits. The ANO's form part of the Tokyo Convention 1963 and around 170 contries have signed up to this.
Would you believe that as CC we are trained that we are not allowed to say somebody is "drunk" even if they plainly are. Only a doctor or a police officer can state this folllowing the relevant breathe/blood tests.
The police are generally called to the aircraft because we have behaviour likely to endanger an aircraft or person therein... Article 73. Quite often you can add in Article 77 to this regarding the Commanders authority. However at this stage we can only say we suspect drink is the underlying cause.
Once said yobs get carted off it is likely that they could be charged under all three sections of the ANO if they prove positive to tests.
I agree with your point below which is precisely why you are only allowed to drink airline alcohol not your own so we can monitor consumption and behaviour.
Of course responsibility works two ways. Some people are more suseptible to the affects of alcohol than others especially at altitude. If pax feel the affects of this they could always get a non alcoholic drink instead
It's not compulsery to drink everything the airline offers
