@Mr Mac - with your gin in a sealed bag I can see no reason why security should have confiscated it, that's the whole purpose of the sealed bag! I fear you may have fallen victim to the tendency of the security staff to be ignorant of/make up the rules as they go along.
On the matter of Eastern airlines service, it's a bit horses for courses. You'll get a much more fawning service on an airline where they hire their staff from a servile culture. The ex-EK steward I spoke to made an interesting comment that in his entire time there almost nobody ever said thank you to him, which he felt reflected greatly on customer expectations there. In BA he is often thanked. Service standards in the West will never be the same as in the East because culturally Western staff won't think or act like domestic servants.