Southwest Airlines to resume alcohol sales on its flights after nearly two years

Southwest Airlines will start selling alcohol on its flights once again, after pausing the sales due to a surge in in-flight disruptions by passengers.

The carrier removed alcohol from planes in March 2020.

Some US carriers suspended the sale of booze at the start of the pandemic to help reduce the transmission of Covid. In theory, passengers remove their masks less if they aren’t consuming alcohol.

Southwest Airlines has said it will sell beer, wine and liquor from 16 February on flights travelling 176 miles or more.

“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,” said Tony Roach, vice president of Customer Experience and Customer Relations.

From mid-February, airline customers can drink Miller Lite, Blue Moon, Lagunitas IPA, sparkling wine, chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, vodka, lime vodka, Jack Daniels, Wild Turkey, Bacardi rum, and tequila on board.

It is a federal requirement for passengers on board flights in the US to wear a mask for the safety of other passengers and crew. Passengers may remove their masks if they are eating or drinking.

Airlines reported around 6,000 cases of unruly airline passengers in 2021, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Between January and early October 2021, there were 4,600 incident reports of non-compliance – 72 per cent of these were due to passengers refusing to wear a mask.

In January 2021, the FAA’s administrator, Steve Dickson, signed an order with stricter legal consequences for “unruly airline passengers in the wake of recent, troubling incidents”. The order states that passengers who threaten to or physically assault airline crew could face imprisonment and fines of up to $35,000.

US Airlines are still battling with compliance, in late January American Airlines turned a plane around after an hour and a half into its journey from Miami to London “due to a disruptive customer refusing to comply with the federal mask requirement”, American Airlines said in a statement. The passenger was escorted off the plane by police.

By late January there were more than 150 “unruly passenger” reports, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Of those, more than 90 were mask-related incidents.