Southwest Airways says it’s ending cabin service earlier on flights, requiring passengers to do the same old pre-landing procedures akin to guaranteeing their seatbelts are mounted and returning their seats to an upright place sooner than earlier than.
Starting on Dec. 4, an organization spokesperson stated, flight attendants will begin making ready the cabin for touchdown at an altitude of 18,000 ft (5,486 meters) as a substitute of 10,000 ft (3,048 meters).
The change in process is designed to “scale back the chance of in-flight turbulence accidents” for crew members and passengers, the corporate stated.
Whereas turbulence-related fatalities are fairly uncommon, accidents have piled up over time.
Multiple-third of all airline incidents in the US 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 Nationwide Transportation Security Board reported.
In Might, a 73-year outdated man died on board a Singapore Airways flight when the airplane hit extreme turbulence over the Indian Ocean.
The airline had additionally beforehand introduced different adjustments. Beginning subsequent yr, Southwest will toss out a half-century custom of “open seating” — passengers choosing their very own seats after boarding the airplane.
