Coral
I posted what was told to me by a then current Air Trafficker and have no reason to suspect that he was lying.
Also, your reference to anger about QF's non payment of double Xmas allowances is incorrect - the rumour that many captains uplifted additional fuel to penalise QF was told to the media by a member of the Flight Attendants Union's Committee. As far as I'm aware, not one pilot uplifted additional fuel for this reason. I guess that individual wanted the pilots to look unprofessional in the eyes of the public rather than Flight attendants.
Back to the original topic - Personally, I would not expect another company to provide funds for drinks and nibblies at a function for staff of my company. It really is up to Air Services to motivate their own staff, not companies that they do business with. GB