Southwest Airlines to resume serving alcohol during flights

While relaxing its alcohol serving policy later this month, the company will also expand its beverages list with more options for passengers such as hot chocolate, tonic water and more Coke varieties. However the beverage service is available exclusively onboard of 176 miles long or more flights.

The move was explained by Tony Roach, one of Southwest’s VP’s, in recent release:

"Customers have expressed a desire for more beverage options, so we're delighted to restore additional on-board offerings as a part of the Southwest hospitality that our customers know and love."

On the other hand, the company’s flight attendants believe that serving alcohol on flights is "unsafe and irresponsible", while putting them at risk for misbehaviour of passengers.

"We have adamantly and unequivocally informed management that resuming sales of alcohol while the mask mandate is in place has the great potential to increase customer non-compliance and misconduct issues," Lyn Montgomery from TWU Local 556 commented.

As airlines such as United Airlines and Delta Air Lines have also resumed their alcohol-serving policies, one of the largest US carriers, American Airlines, says that the move will not be included in its flying regulations yet.

American Airlines representatives have stated:

"We will continue to evaluate the situation and work closely with the union that represents our flight attendants, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, and medical experts on this process to determine when we will return to full service in the main cabin.”

According to data from the Federal Aviation Administration released last November, no less than $161,823 in fines were issued for passengers engaging in alcohol-related events and unruly behaviour.

 
Source: cnn.com