Southwest Airlines Extends Alcohol Ban

Southwest Airlines won't be able to sell alcoholic beverages until this spring at the earliest.

Southwest extends alcohol ban through spring of 2022

Southwest's COO Mike Van de Ven gave an update on the company's alcohol sales during the company's quarterly call on Thursday.

• Southwest plans to resume alcohol sales late in the first quarter or early in the second quarter of 2022, so expect late March or early April for the resumption of service, assuming the timeline doesn’t slip even further
• Previously the plan was to bring this back in February 2022, but this is being delayed due to the spread of the omicron variant

In order to maximize the amount of time people have their masks on, many airlines cut back on inflight service around the start of the Pandemic. Since then, we have seen service restored.

Southwest was going to resume alcohol service in the summer of 2021, but decided to put that off due to the increase in air rage incidents. A passenger knocked out two of a Southwest flight attendant's teeth in a previous incident.

It is a violation of FAA regulations to consume alcohol on a flight that isn't served by the crew, so you can't bring your own drinks.

Do other airlines also ban alcohol?

Southwest is the only major airline in the United States that doesn't allow alcohol. The airlines have been serving alcohol for a while. American doesn't sell alcohol in economy but serves alcohol in first class.

When the federal mask mandate for transportation is lifted, American Airlines plans to bring back alcohol.

Southwest banned alcohol due to unruly passenger incidents. I say that as someone who almost never drinks on domestic flights, because I am not sure I agreed with that logic.

• Yes, people are misbehaving horribly on planes, and flight attendants are putting up with a lot
• That being said, overwhelmingly it doesn’t seem to be alcohol related, but rather seems to involve masks and general divisiveness in the country
• Is there any data to suggest that Southwest is seeing fewer incidents as a result of its policy than an airline like United, for example?
• Couldn’t airlines take a middle ground approach and agree to sell passengers one drink? I could see that maybe even leading to fewer incidents, because some people sure act like having a drink may calm their nerves

Southwest is waiting to resume alcohol service because of the omicron variant. That logic doesn't make sense to me either.

• I don’t think slowly sipping a can of soda is any more dangerous than slowly sipping a cup of wine
• I suppose this gets at the fact that selling alcohol involves more interaction between passengers and crew
• As I mentioned when it was recently announced that American would cut back inflight service, it’s ironic that flight attendants are so concerned about safety, all while many wear cloth masks (which provide minimal protection)

Southwest Airlines won't resume alcohol sales until the end of the first quarter or beginning of the second quarter of 2022, so you can expect an alcohol ban for at least a couple more months. The alcohol ban was initially due to unruly passenger behavior, but now it is due to the omicron variant.

What do you think about Southwest's continued alcohol ban?

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