For some, the pandemic recovery won’t be complete until they can get loaded on Southwest Airlines.
Those party people will have to wait a little longer because Southwest won’t be bringing back alcohol service on its flights until later this summer. It seems a raucous few have ruined it for the whole group.
Sonya Lacore, Southwest’s head of in-flight operations, said in a memo obtained by CNN that “based on the rise in passenger disruptions in flight, I’ve made the decision to re-evaluate the restart of alcohol service on board.”
The airline had planned to bring back the booze on Hawaii flights in June, and on the rest of its routes during July.
During the pandemic, most airlines didn’t offer services due to an abundance of caution. Passengers had to remain masked unless eating or drinking — so there was a suspension of the eating and drinking.
Last Sunday, a female passenger was arrested after attacking a Southwest flight attendant. Southwest said two of the attendant’s teeth had been knocked out.
The police report said the flight attendant was taken to a hospital once the plane landed.
It’s not the right time to add alcohol to the mix.
“We realize this decision may be disappointing for some customers, but we feel this is the right decision at this time in the interest of the safety and comfort of all customers and crew onboard,” Mainz said.
And the Southwest incident is certainly not unique, with airlines commonly having to file reports about bad behavior.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Monday said approximately 2,500 such reports have been filed in 2021; 1,900 of those involved passengers not wearing mandatory face masks.
But, hey, Southwest said it plans to expand its selection of soft drinks and coffee.
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