During the covid pandemic, every airline had to modify its onboard beverage service. When federal laws required passengers to wear masks, it was challenging to not get them to take them off when they ordered their drink and while they were drinking it.
Southwest Airlines (LUV) -), for much of that period, limited its choices to water, coffee, Coke, and Diet Coke, asking customers to hold up a finger to order. And, the airline, like all of its rivals, instructed passengers to move their mask to the side to take a sip, and then replace it immediately.
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Not every passenger liked these rules as mask-wearing to prevent the spread of covid was a very political topic. Some people felt the government had no right to require masks and the airlines were put into the middle as they have to enforce federal law no matter what they think of those laws.
This led to every major airline either stopping serving alcoholic beverages or limiting their availability. Curtailing (or getting rid of) alcohol sales may have hurt the industry's bottom line, but it kept flight attendants from dealing with angry passengers emboldened by being drunk.
That was an important choice at a time when flight attendants were facing increased violence and verbal harassment over rules they had no say over but had to enforce. Now, United Airlines (UAL) -) has fully reverted to its pre-covid onboard drink rules on all flights.
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United Says 'Make That a Double'
During the darkest days of the pandemic, United eliminated all alcohol sales. It slowly brought them back, first offering alcohol sales in premium cabins, and then restoring them to its coach/economy fliers.
In both cases, however, the company limited passengers to one drink at a time. They could order a second alcoholic beverage later if time permitted, but they could not get two at a time.
"The goal at the time was to reduce opportunities for passengers to remove their masks while onboard and also reduce the chance of any flight disturbances that are often fueled by alcohol," LiveandLetsFly.com reported.
Now, the airline has reverted to the rules it used before the covid pandemic, according to a memo it shared with the website.
United Inflight Service policy will be updated to return to the pre-pandemic standard of allowing flight attendants to serve customers two alcoholic beverages at once when requested, replacing the current one alcoholic beverage per customer policy.
Please follow SOPs to ensure customers don’t become intoxicated. This includes following the traffic light system, which helps to avoid safety threats and regulatory violations.
The airline has not shared when the new policy will take effect on its planes.
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Flight Attendants Face Increased Violence
With mask requirements and covid rules a thing of the past, it's logical that United would make this change. The end of those rules removed a chance for people to stage a political fight over mask rules on airplanes and ratcheted down the danger for flight attendants.
From 2020 to 2021, the number of reported incidents jumped from about 1,000 to around 6,000, KABC reported about violent attacks on flight attendants.
The numbers have not returned to normal despite the end of mask rules.
"Unruly passenger incidents were up 47% in 2022, overtaking 2021’s record high of one incident per 835 flights, data compiled by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has revealed," Simple Flying reported.
