Southwest Extends Ban On In-Flight Booze Until 2022

USA Today reports:

Southwest Airlines does not plan to resume onboard alcohol sales until at least January, according to a memo sent to flight attendants on Friday. The timeline is tied to the extension of the federal mask mandate on airplanes and at airports.

“With the mask mandate being extended to January 18, 2022, there are no current plans to bring back alcohol prior to January 2022,” Randall Miller, senior manager of inflight ops, initiatives and design said in the memo.

American Airlines made the same decision in August, when the mandate was extended due to the spike in COVID-19 cases from the delta variant. Southwest and American are the only two major carriers still not serving alcohol in economy class.

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.@SouthwestAir and @Americanir are the only two major U.S. airlines still not serving alcohol in the cheap seats. (American serves booze in first class.) https://t.co/1PsiNKlOUS

— Dawn Gilbertson (@DawnGilbertson) September 10, 2021