Originally Posted by freezingflyboy

Thought it was fairly self explanatory, but I'll walk you through a hypothetical...

Say you arrive at the bar at 4pm for a couple beers and an early dinner, as you have a 6am report in the morning and your company follows the "8 hour" rule. Let's say you have 3-4 beers and are finishing dinner around 6pm...well within your 12 hour rule. Now let's say that for some reason you end up nursing a water and sticking around the bar (hockey game goes to overtime, a buddy you haven't seen in a while arrives later, you're trying to get the cute bartender's number for the next time you're through town, whatever) later than you had intended. Next thing you know, it's 11pm and you're ready to tab out, using your credit card, and call it a night. Not the best decision-making but nothing illegal as you haven't touched a beer in 4 hours and you're still going to get 6 hours of sleep.

Now let's also say some "nosey Nancy" is at the bar and recognizes you at the gate in the morning when you show up to up to fly her flight. Being the self-righteous person that he/she is, they immediately report to the gate agent or even TSA or airport police that they KNOW you have been drinking before the flight. They saw you at the bar *gasp* JUST 7 hours ago! Now, if you find yourself having to refute those claims, you have a credit card transaction with an alcohol sale on it within the legally mandated limit.

Not saying it's an impossible obstacle to overcome but we all know how these things go in the court of public opinion. Without the paper trail, all you have to do is pee in a cup and if you're clean, you're clean. Very little anyone can do to doubt you. But with the paper trail, you just have one more thing you have to defend yourself against.