Southwest and American Airlines are extending suspensions of alcoholic beverages to in-flight passengers, thanks to the rise in unruly passenger behavior across the country.
An internal memo sent to American Airlines flight attendants made the announcement on Saturday. The day before, Southwest made a similar decision after a flight attendant was assaulted and lost two teeth.
“Flight attendants are on the front lines every day not only ensuring our customers’ safety, but are also calming fears, answering questions, and enforcing policies like federally-required face masks,” American Airlines’ memo read.
“Over the past week, we’ve seen some of these stressors create deeply disturbing situations onboard aircraft. Let me be clear: American Airlines will not tolerate assault or mistreatment of our crews,” the memo continued.
According to a Southwest representative, the decision to continue the suspension was made “given the recent uptick in industry-wide incidents of passenger disruptions inflight.”
Originally, the suspensions were set to end this summer but will now stay in effect until September 13th.
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