SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — Southwest Airlines says it’ll start serving alcohol on flights again this month.
The airline stopped serving alcohol last March after several violent incidents during flights.
Most people have seen the videos of flight attendants being attacked and passengers fighting each other, so Southwest Airlines stopped selling alcohol.
Now the airline says because of customer demand, you’ll soon be able to drink on the plane.
“Alcohol definitely added to the situation in a lot of the documented cases. Alcohol was a factor,” said Lyn Montgomery, TWU Local 556 President.
The President of the Transport Workers Union, which represents Southwest Airlines flight attendants, says they’re not happy about the airline’s decision to sell alcohol on flights starting February 16.
“We’ve had flight attendants grabbed by the wrists. We’ve had flight attendants just be outright assaulted with punches, repeated punches. We’ve had flight attendants deal with a lot of microaggressions that never even gets reported,” said Montgomery.
Last year on a flight headed to San Diego, a flight attendant had two teeth knocked out after a passenger punched her.
Montgomery says the temporary ban on alcohol sales gave flight attendants some hope that they’d be safer while working during the pandemic.
“It’s not a forever request that we don’t serve alcohol aboard aircraft. It’s while the mask mandate is in place and also while the level of assaults is continuing to increase,” said Montgomery.
Southwest released a statement about its decision, saying in part:
“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,” - Tony Roach, Vice President Customer Experience and Customer Relations.”
Montgomery says the union also asked the airline to place security guards at the gates to intervene with people who may be intoxicated before they board the plane.
She also says flight attendants do have the authority to stop serving alcohol if they believe the person has had too much to drink and they will do that to keep the environment safe in the air.
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