Violent passengers responsible for alcohol ban extension.
American Airlines is rolling out its beverage cart once again to main cabin passengers, however, the carrier will not resume alcohol sales until September 13 – the same date the federal mask mandate is set to expire.
The American internal memo sent to flight attendants on Saturday comes at the heels of the Southwest Airlines announcement that they too are pausing alcohol sales after a flight attendant was physically assaulted in-flight by a passenger resulting in her teeth being knocked out.
“Over the past week we’ve seen some of these stressors create deeply disturbing situations on board aircraft,” Brady Byrnes, managing director of flight service at American Airlines, said in the memo.
“Let me be clear: American Airlines will not tolerate assault or mistreatment of our crews.”
American clarified alcohol will continue to be offered in its first class and business class cabins.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been carrying out its zero-tolerance policy addressing violence on planes and has suggested thousands of dollars in penalties for passengers who have exhibited dangerous behaviour on planes.
The FAA said it has received approximately 2,500 reports of unruly passenger behavior this year, approximately 1,900 of those cases involving travelers who refused to follow the federal mask mandate during air travel.
Passenger numbers in the US are beginning to climb again as more Americans resume travel.
TSA figures show there was a 499% increase in travellers at US airports on Friday alone during Memorial Day weekend with 1.95 million traveling.
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