After two years of dry flying, Southwest Airlines will reinstate alcohol sales this month on flights of more than 176 miles, the company says.
Southwest’s Tony Roach, vice president customer experience and customer relations, announced last week the airline will reinstate serving alcohol on flights on Feb. 16.
Southwest stopped selling liquor, beer and wine in an attempt to minimize the risk of passengers becoming rowdy or removing their masks.
“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,” Roach said.
Southwest will restore alcoholic beverages for on-board purchase. The options will include: Miller Lite ($6), Blue Moon ($7), Lagunitas IPA ($7), sparkling wine ($6), chardonnay ($6), cabernet sauvignon ($6), vodka ($7), lime vodka ($7), Jack Daniels ($7), Wild Turkey ($7), Bacardi rum ($7) and tequila ($7).
And to make things even better for in-flight drinkers, Southwest said it will honor any Southwest drink coupon that expired in 2020 or 2021 through Dec. 31, 2022.
But not everybody is happy.
“TWU Local 556 is outraged at Southwest Airlines’ resumption of alcohol sales, a move we consider to be both unsafe and irresponsible,” Lyn Montgomery, spokesperson for the union which represents more than 11,000 Southwest flight attendants, said in a statement.
“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,” Montgomery added.
The Federal Aviation Administration chronicled a record spike in unruly behavior among air passengers in 2021. The agency’s analysis of the surge in aggressive behavior in-flight indicates alcohol is often a contributing factor.
Yet in January the FAA said unruly passengers reports were down 50 percent from the year before. In the first two weeks of 2022, the FAA was notified of only 76 reports of unruly passengers. Just under half were mask-related, the FAA said.
The move by Southwest leaves American Airlines as the only major U.S. airline that continues to ban alcohol sales on flights.
“We haven’t established a specific date for the return of onboard alcohol in the main cabin of our aircrafts,” an American spokesperson told ABC News. “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.”
For non-drinkers flying Southwest, there are new options as well, the airline said.
On flights of 176 miles or more, Southwest will add tonic water, apple juice, Coke Zero, Dr. Pepper, hot tea and hot cocoa. These beverage options join the current offerings of Coke, Diet Coke, 7 Up, water, ginger ale, seltzer water, orange juice, cranberry cocktail juice and coffee.
