United’s policy is “zero tolerance” when operating - worldwide.

“Zero tolerance” is defined as a BAC less than .02. A pilot blowing .02 to .039 will be removed from duty by United - any where in the world.

Exactly on point .. If the thought of going through a layover without drinking makes you "uncomfortable", you "might have a problem".

That's true for all airlines in my experience.


I was talking about the bottle-to-brief rule, ie don't really need 12 hours in the US, but maybe you do in scotland since they seem to practice pretty invasive monitoring.

Ah, I did not know that.

I think to keep it simple for our airline all crews, regardless of theater, should follow the same rule - 13.5 hours to scheduled departure time, or scheduled start time of a training event one must cease alcohol consumption.

Is it a diaper rule, sure, but we have many diaper rules. Is it more than legally required in most instances - yes. Might it save a pilot from stepping in his own fecal material, most likely. Is that something all of us should want to do, I’d like to think so.

I also think ALPA should hit this harder than they have been. (The letter from the ALPA legal advisor is a very good start.) I like a beer as much as the next guy, but we have got to do a better job of taking care of each other.

Completely disagree.

Two part answer to your two stories.

1. Reading comprehension is an important life skill.

2. Get a grip dude...Seriously.

I've been doing this for a long time. Sometimes I want to just have a beer or glass of wine with dinner. Sometimes I finish my one drink 8:05 prior to report. The 5 minutes is in case the clock on the security camera is off a bit. I also try to close out the tab outside of 8 hours.

I don't need diapers. Really.


This has been hit pretty hard, on all fronts, for about 20 years. You should have seen it back in the day. Many of us routinely flew fatigued, hung over, or worse, and I wasn't an exception to that. Different era today.

But yes, for sure take care of your partner(s).

The change to the 12 hour rule really should not make any difference to the social habits required for this job. My observation is those who disagree with it and feel they can responsibly drink will just continue as they previously did.

Yes I was here when there was a 24 hour rule and many ignored that one in the day. But, as our ALPA lawyer said to me when the change was made, “24 hours is unreasonable and defending someone who violated the rule was not difficult. Now the 12 hour rule, that will take some work to defend a pilot who is caught in violation.”

What the change does is to protect United Airlines from being scrutinized further by the FAA and foreign governments. There’s far more financially at stake for the Corp if they simply do nothing.

Personally I think it is an easy rule to live with.

Nope. I quit drinking years ago, so this doesn’t even affect me.....but I still find the spirit of your suggestion offensive. Personal responsibility should be all that is expected. The consequences are known, and should be expected. We are all big boys and girls. I’m VERY sympathetic to the plight of anybody who screws their career up in this manner, but I refuse to be a booze-nanny. I literally don’t care WHAT you do when you’re off-duty, as long as you show up fit for duty at report time.

On a side note......don’t get $hit-faced at the hotel bar.........amateur.

And expensive......