Southwest Airlines Explains What’s It’s Doing To Tackle The Curious Case Of The Exploding Soda Cans

Last summer, it was revealed that dozens of Southwest Airlines flight attendants were being injured after soda cans kept on mysteriously exploding onboard its planes – it was all the more strange because Southwest was the only airline that was suffering the issue.

The cause of the exploding soda cans was, however, traced back to the fact that, unlike other airlines, Southwest wasn’t keeping its in-flight supplies chilled, even in blisteringly hot locations like Phoenix and Las Vegas.

In fact, soda cans would regularly sit on unchilled catering trucks for hours in the scorching hot sun before being loaded directly onto the countertops of Southwest Airlines planes.

Add in the effect of pressurized aircraft and a little altitude, and the carbonated liquid inside these soda cans became so ferocious that it would cause the can to explode.

Soon after reports of exploding soda cans started to go viral last summer, sources at Southwest said the airline was already investigating how to stop this phenomenon.

And while Southwest was quick to claim that high temperatures weren’t the only cause of the exploding soda cans, a slew of mitigations introduced for this summer all focus on keeping the cans cool.

The airline has eventually replaced unchilled catering trucks with 60 refrigerated vehicles in Phoenix and Las Vegas, and more may soon join the Southwest catering fleet in Dallas and Houston.

Crew has also been equipped with infrared guns to check the temperature of soda cans and ensure that any identified as being too hot are immediately removed from service.

It’s still unclear what temperature will cause a soda can to potentially explode, but Southwest says it is keeping track of incidents and using AI to develop its safety standards.

At one point, the airline was even considering replacing full-sized cans with mini versions, although it doesn’t look like this might now be necessary.

Other airlines don’t have the same issue because they have long used chilled catering trucks, and soda cans are stored in special airline carts with dry ice drawers to keep the contents onboard.

Once these carts are loaded onto the plane, they are also normally stored in air-chilled stowages, bringing all of the contents down to a safe temperature.

Southwest has long rejected traditional airline business practices, although that is now changing with the involvement of activist investor Elliott on the airline’s board of directors.

The Dallas-based carrier is now copying just about every other airline, ditching its open seating and ‘two bags fly free’ policies, while introducing extra legroom seating for an additional fee and a slew of changes to its frequent flyer program.

Southwest is even considering international flying to Europe, as well as the introduction of premium airport lounges.

Going forward, it’s also probably safe to assume that Southwest will want to introduce other ancillary revenue opportunities, such as ‘buy on board’ food. Such a move, however, is being hampered by Southwest’s unique galley setups.