While Southwest Airlines has already begun using new secondary flight deck barriers to reinforce cockpit security, United Airlines has told employees that this security device will not be used until next year on United aircraft.
United Airlines Will Begin Using Secondary Flight Deck Barriers In 2026
A memo to flight attendants shared with Live And Let’s Fly states:
While you’re all trained and ready for the new secondary barrier implementation, other work groups are not. We’re delaying implementation to allow the other groups to finalize and complete training.
Reminder: Do not use the secondary barrier Types 2 and 3 until further advised in early 2026. These are found on some newly delivered B737, B787, and A321neo aircraft. Continue to use the full-size galley cart procedures until further notice.
Currently, United flight attendants block access to the front galley with a beverage cart while pilots leave the flight deck to stretch or utilize the lavatory.
The secondary barriers are a retractable, gate-like device that deploys when the main cockpit door opens (frequent United flyers might recall United used to have these on its Pratt & Whitney 757-200, which were retired in 2020).
Mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2018 but with enforcement repeatedly delayed, these retractable barriers function like a gate to prevent unauthorized entry to the cockpit. Southwest Airlines was one of the first U.S. carriers to install these barriers on its new Boeing 737s, with the requirement for all new aircraft to have them by July 2026.
While United is taking delivery of new planes with these barriers pre-installed and also retrofitting existing aircraft, the rollout will come only after all work groups are trained on the use of the new gates (pilots and flight attendants have already been trained).
My only additional comment is that I miss the days of being able to visit the cockpit during the flight…but I suppose those days are long gone.
> Read More: Maybe It’s Time To Let Passengers Visit Cockpit Again During Flight…
images: Southwest Airlines
Listening to Charlie Sheen tell the story of being high as a kite and being allowed to take control of a plane tells me we need to protect ourselves y pilots from themselves in some cases.
Reading anything you write tells us that contrary to biology and medical science, life is possible without a functioning brain.
Douchebag Dave Edwards & Sch*tt Hsuan & Dirtbag Derek & A**hole Alert, proving with your every (too frequent) comments that your nicknames are absolutely accurate and completely deserved and that you have nothing better to do with your pathetic waste-of-oxygen lives than to post abhorrent and revolting comments here over and over again every single day. Thank you for confirming again that you and other MAGAs are stupid hateful racist cretins. Trolling or not, the extent and frequency of your comments are indicative of severe psychiatric and/or addiction problems. Your insults, undoubtedly projection, speak much more to your lack of character than to anyone you attack. You should crawl back under whatever rocks you crawled out from you SHPOSs.
The last guy that acted like you ended up killing himself and Matt did a story on his mental illness. Does he know enough about you and your obsession to give you the same “tribute” when you eventually put the gun to your head?
She’s smiling because once that barrier is closed, cabin service is over… And she hadn’t even started yet!
I don’t quite understand why people think these secondary barriers are a good idea, particularly given their placement. Couldn’t someone with malicious intent lock themselves behind the secondary door and then begin working on the access to the flight deck via the primary door? Anyone wanting to stop them would have to get through the secondary door…
What about during an emergency? For example a “crash” landing and somehow these doors might deploy accidentally, leaving no access to exits on each side of the galley.
Air travel will never be the same again as it was before September 11, 2001. As is known, the cockpit doors are already reinforced, but these new barriers are for when the cockpit door is open for a pilot to exit or enter… Safe flights everyone!
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Odd… my buddy sent me a photo of a MAX 8 with the gates last month