Late last year, Southwest Airlines announced that it would order flight attendants to be sat down and strapped into their jumpseats in preparation for landing much sooner than it had ever required them to do in the past as part of an effort to reduce turbulence-related injuries.
As of December 4, 2024, flight attendants at the Dallas-based carrier have started to secure the cabin for landing and be sit in the jumpseats once the aircraft descends to an altitude of 18,000 feet – much higher than the previous altitude of 10,000 feet.
At 10,000 feet, it will typically take a Boeing 737 less than 10 minutes to land, whereas at 18,000 feet, it could take the pilots more than 15 minutes to land, depending on a variety of factors, including holding patterns, vectoring, and weather.
The obvious issue is that Southwest operates quite a few short flights that clock in at less than 40 minutes in the air, especially on the West Coast. Subtract 10 minutes for the seatbelt signs to be switched off after takeoff and 15 minutes for preparations for landing, and that just leaves 15 minutes to complete the service.
As a result, the airline has now decided to class a slew of new routes as ‘express service’ flights, in which a full beverage and snack service is scrapped and only coffee or water is offered.
Traditionally, Southwest has offered its ‘express service’ on flights less than 175 miles in duration but we are likely to now see this extended to all flights with a flight time of less than 40 minutes.
Some of the flights set to switch to an express service include:
| From | To | Flight time | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Houston (HOU) | San Antonio (SAT) | 40 minutes | 309 km |
| Las Vegas (LAS) | Los Angeles (LAX) | 40 minutes | 380 km |
| Austin (AUS) | Dallas (DAL) | 40 minutes | 304 km |
| Las Vegas (LAS) | Burbank (BUR) | 45 minutes | 359 km |
| Baltimore (BWI) | Pittsburg (PIT) | 40 minutes | 338 km |
| Kansas City (MCI) | St Louis (STL) | 35 minutes | 381 km |
| St Louis (STL) | Chicago (MDW) | 40 minutes | 404 km |
| Las Vegas (LAS) | Santa Ana (SNA) | 40 minutes | 364 km |
As turbulence, especially at lower altitudes, is such a contributor to flight attendant injuries, Southwest hopes that the new policy will reduce overall crew member injuries by as much as 20%.
A few years ago, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) published detailed research about the risk of turbulence, which concluded that the majority (36%) of turbulence-related accidents occurred during descent phase of a flight.
During that period, 65% of turbulence-related accidents occurred below 20,000 feet, with flight attendants most likely to be injured.
Another study by the Joint Safety Analysis Team for Commercial Aviation recommended that flight attendants be seated for landing at 20,000 feet, although the NTSB declined to specific an altitude at which it would suggest flight attendants be seated for landing.
You need to work on the title. Too wordy and it just sounds strange.
Not just the title. The first 2 paragraphs, too!
…’secure the cabin for landing and be sit in the jumpseats’…
PIT has an “h” at the end. Admittedly Pittsburgh, PA is the only one in the country with that “h” but as you put the code as PIT it’s obvious which one you’re talking about.
“to be sat down”? How about, “to be seated” or “to be in their jumpstarts”.
Zero problems with this. I expect other airlines to do the same. As long as there is coffee and water! I don’t want to be roped into a $8 bottle of water in the airport.
Jumpstarts? Typos are easy to do.
Southwest is really going downhill quickly with price spikes, losing my suitcase everytime I fly, getting rid of the sit anyway policy, and now this. Just say you want to cut more expenses.
Very poorly written. What is “be sit in jumpseat”. Try maybe “be sitting in”, or just rewrite the sentence completely. Go back to Freshman Composition class
Another factor:
Unlike other airlines, SW requires flight attendants to clean the cabin after each flight. There is no separate cleaning crew who swoops in after a flight lands.
So no drinks = less nasty trash for these professionals to have to handle.
I am the last to leave the aircraft — no rushing for me — and I chat with the crew. So I know they clean at the point when most of us are gone.
The grammar and composition are truly a problem as noted by several who replied to this article.This indeed needs to be addressed in some way or proof read by someone who is proficient in English,
Does one REALLY need a drink or snacky on such short flights?