Southwest Airlines is adjusting its landing procedures, with a new policy aimed at ending service earlier in the flight to minimize the risk of turbulence-related flight attendant injuries. The practical result, though, may be the elimination of beverage service on many shorter flights.
New Southwest Airlines Landing Procedure May Curtail Beverage Service On Shorter Flights
As noted by View From The Wing, flight attendants on Southwest Airlines will be seated earlier effective December 4, 2024. Going forward, flight attendants will take their jumpseats at 18,000 feet instead of 10,000 feet. A memo explains:
As first announced last week in the Leader Update and video by Steve Murtoff and Lee Kinnebrew, VP Flight Operations, significant advancements in our descent procedures that reflect our unwavering commitment to Safety and well-being of our Flight Attendants will begin on December 4.
Inflight Safety and the TWU 556 Health and Safety Committee have been integral in developing these new procedures. Together, we have shaped procedures that prioritize your Safety and are fully aligned with our Company Safety objectives of preventing Flight Attendant Injury.
A summary of the December 4 changes includes:
- At top of descent, the Pilots will make a required PA to inform the cabin that the descent phase has begun.
- At 18,000 feet, the Pilots will make one high-low chime, indicating the start of sterile flight deck. This chime serves as your cue to secure the cabin for landing and to be seated and secured in your jumpseats.
This procedural adjustment-Flight Attendants securing the cabin 8,000 feet earlier during descent-reflects years of research and your reporting through our Safety Management System (SMS). The evaluation of thousands of data points from Flight Attendant and Pilot reports paired with information from the Flight Data Analysis Program (FDAP), confirmed that seating our Flight Attendants earlier should reduce Flight Attendant injuries by at least 20%. Inflight and Flight Ops will validate the effectiveness of these new procedures, and if we do not achieve the desired result, we will continue to find solutions. We are also committed to sharing updates on these findings periodically.
In short, Southwest hopes to reduce flight attendant injuries by 20% through this policy change. And Southwest is not the first carrier to implement this change: United Airlines implemented the same policy one year ago.
> Read More: Why Service Will End Earlier On Your Next United Airlines Flight
As I’ve flown more than 30 flights on United this year, I’ve seen this policy in action and in every instance, in my view, it has led to a premature conclusion of in-flight service.
Maybe I’m just jaded, but this does not seem to me to be about flight attendant safety…I mean, you could keep flight attendants safe(r) by having them remain seated the entire flight…but this is about kowtowing to union demands to do less work. Again, maybe I’m just too jaded at this point…I’m at least open to that charge.
But show me the stats. Show me why it is so unsafe to collect cups and glasses a few minutes later before boarding so we don’t all have to sit there like sardines in a can, not even able to open our laptops or work with our tray tables down.
Having seen this policy in action for a year, I find it so absurd. It is not anti-flight attendant to say, hey look, we want our passengers to be able to work and keep themselves occupied for as much time as possible. There is risk inherent in life and risk inherent in flying: but the cost-benefit analysis means that we end service at 10,000 feet, not 18,000 feet.
And for Southwest, which operates so many shorthaul flights within California and across the West, this policy change may have a very dramatic effect: no beverage service at all because there just isn’t time any longer to serve a full 737 on a 1-hour flight if service must be suspended at the top of descent.
As I said when discussing the same change at United, if this meaningfully protects flight attendants from injury, I support this move…but I really question whether it does and while my experience is certainly anecdotal, I find it so annoying that service ends so early on a flight these days. Everyone ends up just sitting and twiddling their thumbs.
Ultimately, my gripe will be dismissed as self-serving, but think about it folks: who is pushing most for this change and why? Does the actually risk merit the service adjustment?
I’ve flown AA, DL, and UA multiple times each this year. If UA is ending service earlier, I never noticed. So, not a big deal to me.
I no longer get any alcoholic drinks on Southwest. They used to give 4 drink coupons with the yearly anniversary/credit card renewals – but they cut that out. Their drink prices have escalated to the point where a drink is unaffordable. Now they want passengers to have to forego drink service under the guise of “safety” while making passengers have to suffer thru additional time sitting upright as the aircraft descends. The “new” Southwest sucks – and is only getting worse with inflated flight pricing and soon to be implemented paying for seats. The Southwest faithful passengers have known for over 30 years has been turned into a money grabbing clone of Spirit and Frontier.
Who is pushing for this change? How about the safety departments of the respective airlines. (Or are they secretly run by a union Illuminati that wants to decrease your enjoyment on airplanes??) Turbulence injuries keep going up. A safety risk assessment finds that those can be decreased if flight attendants take their seats earlier.
And then there’s you, certainly coming across as self serving like you said, who wants to get an extra 4 minutes of work done because your time is more valuable than someone’s actual safety? This is seriously one of the most out of touch posts to grace this site.
You’re also misinterpreting what happens at 18,000’. tThat’s when the FAs do their final safety checks with the goal of being seated by 10,000’. Previously that was started at 10,000’ and finished at a much lower altitude.
Show me the numbers, please.
Exactly. Nothing but crickets chirping.
Considering the laws of gravity and drag , whoever claimed that aviation was safe ?
Consider the imperfection of any machine made by man … no machine can be guaranteed perfect , except by an incurable optimist .
Military service permanently cured me of any incurable optimism .
Perhaps stop the drinks and stow the laptops soon after take-off .
Is that little boy in first picture Augustine? How did he do on the endless trip?
That picture of Augustine is four years old…just coincidental I used it for this story on Southwest.
It is all about leaving more time for them to enjoy their phones.
@Santastico … ha ha . And they Do enjoy them .
To be honest, I don’t think people would care about these changes if service was up to standard in the first place. It’s when service has already become kind of crap in general that eyebrows get raised with this sort of thing.
You captured my sentiments. Safety, yes. But this feels off, especially given Southwest flights in California or within 1-2 hours of BUR/LAX/OAK eg
Probably this is being implemented because it takes so much longer getting the cabins secured because passengers are paying no attention to announcements due to their noise canceling headphones, audiovisual entertainment, and the passengers desire to get the very last bit of in flight computer work time in before they will save and shut down, and store their damn computer’s, so they can have more down time once they get to their destination. It pretty assanine on the writers part to not be aware of the cabin securing complications slowly compliant passengers create during critical phases of flight. Thanks for spilling your hot coffee in my crotch. NO sympathy here.
“Due to rough air today, there will be no service on this flight.” This happens a lot less in other countries.
I’d be interested in a comparison of how these procedures vary by country. (e.g. Europe, Japan, etc.)
The US has a ton of not-invented-here syndrome, and this is apparent in many areas (e.g. public health policy, law enforcement, building codes)
This is another great reason why many US regions really should have high-speed rail… imagine being able to get up and go get food (and/or use the restroom) anytime.
Honestly I am currently in Hong Kong, which a meal is offered in all cabin on a literally 55 minutes flight from Hong Kong to Kaohsiung Taiwan. But I understand the concern of F/A safety and the problem is the lack of service is that US and European airlines all go with minimal crew 1:50, unlike other countries. I don’t see Southwest bringing a fifth F/A on the 737 flight, so I think drink service will become historic on these short intra-California flights.
Maybe Southwest should also update the beverage policy and maybe they need to simplify the service. You cannot sell alcohol anymore and maybe bottled/boxed water and coffee service and snacks on all flights below 60 minutes. My belief is all about passengers’ expectations. Maybe it is necessary to send out emails asking passengers to bring their own beverage and snacks now too. Gate agents need to make announcements to remind passengers that things are different. As long as I am told in advance, I am okay. I can choose to fly other airlines, who offer more elaborate service, or simply go to ULCC since it makes little difference now.
the sooner Sara Nelson is sent to a labor camp, the better off the country will be
Actually, drinking nothing except maybe some water is HEALTHIER. Sugar from soda, 1o teaspoons of it in one can, or just soda with no sugar, is very bad for your metabolism. It raises your blood sugar and with nowhere to go, makes you jittery, and nervous, and also increases your insulin level, which is just as bad. And then there’s the bathroom problem…
Delta does NO service on Atl to Jax even no bottles of water in first class lately!!It is less than an hour light!