Southwest Airlines says it’s ending its cabin service earlier on its flights beginning subsequent month.
Beginning on Dec. 4, an organization spokesperson stated, flight attendants will start making ready the cabin for touchdown at an altitude of 18,000 toes (5,486 meters) as an alternative of 10,000 toes (3,048 meters). The change in process is designed to “scale back the danger of in-flight turbulence accidents” for crew members and passengers, the corporate stated.
For passengers, which means they might want to do the same old pre-landing procedures — reminiscent of guaranteeing their seatbelts are mounted 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 by 2018 have been associated to turbulence, and most of them resulted in a number of severe accidents however no injury to the airplane, the National Transportation Safety Board reported.
In May, a 73-year outdated man died on board a Singapore Airlines flight when the airplane hit extreme turbulence over the Indian Ocean.
The airline had additionally beforehand introduced different modifications.
Starting subsequent 12 months, Southwest will toss out a half-century custom of “open seating” — passengers choosing their very own seats after boarding the airplane.
