Southwest Airlines says it’s ending its cabin service earlier on its flights beginning subsequent month.
Beginning on Dec. 4, an organization spokesperson mentioned, flight attendants will start getting ready the cabin for touchdown at an altitude of 18,000 toes as an alternative of 10,000 toes. The change in process is designed to “scale back the danger of in-flight turbulence accidents” for crew members and passengers, the corporate mentioned.
For passengers, which means they might want to do the same old pre-landing procedures — corresponding to making certain their seatbelts are fixed and returning their seats to an upright place — sooner than earlier than.
While turbulence-related fatalities are fairly uncommon, accidents have piled up through the years. More than one-third of all airline incidents within the United States from 2009 via 2018 had been associated to turbulence, and most of them resulted in a number of severe accidents however no harm to the airplane, the National Transportation Safety Board reported.
In May, a 73-year previous man died on board a Singapore Airlines flight when the airplane hit severe turbulence over the Indian Ocean.
The airline had additionally beforehand introduced different adjustments.
Starting subsequent 12 months, Southwest will toss out a half-century tradition of “open seating” — passengers selecting their very own seats after boarding the airplane.
