An unusual challenge looms over Southwest Airlines this summer as the scorching temperatures caused the bursting of soda cans on some Southwest flights. The airline confirmed the matter on Wednesday to CBS News. They provided a detailed insight into the incident resulting in a mess onboard alongside injuries of employees.
Airline officials say up to 20 employees have been reporting cases of exploding carbonated drink cans to date this summer. Many of the incidents happened when opening the cans. While most of the cases were minor, some injuries reached flight attendants’ hands, with one case reported to be serious enough to include stitches. The airline says the number of reports of injury is about the same as last year but has been in the spotlight this summer because it has appeared more frequently.
Southwest is taking this very seriously and has initiated actions to mitigate this issue, most specifically at several of the hotter provisioning locations, which include Austin, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Sacramento. A spokesperson for Southwest, Chris Perry, stated that the airline has been keeping employees abreast of the issue since spring into summer and has a plan in place to lessen the occurrence of such undesirable incidents in the future.
The problem may have originated due to Southwest’s unique way of stocking beverages. In the case of other airlines, catering trucks are air-conditioned which is used to haul perishables. Southwest doesn’t stock any perishables on board, which
causes their drink provisioning trucks to be more subjected to the extreme outside temperatures.
Southwest Airlines sent an email to more than 21,000 flight attendants where it considers providing a solution to the bursting of hot cans their topmost priority.
Changes have been made since summer started, including :
1. Less number of cans to be loaded on provisioning trucks to reduce time exposure
2. Add carbonated beverages to the provisioning truck coolers at high-temperature locations
3. Monitor the temperature of trucks and cans with thermometers during shifts
4. Discontinue boarding the products when the external temperature is too high beyond the limit where the possibility of cans bursting increases.
5. Train employees to refrain from opening hot or deformed cans due to exposure to heat in shape.
Moreover, Southwest has recently introduced a new policy where they do not board cans above 98 degrees. Such beverages will be sent to cool down in the warehouse.
It has also considered other solutions like putting refrigerated trailers at warehouses to keep the cans cool before being loaded onto provisional trucks. It began experimenting with air-conditioned provisioning trucks in April and is talking to Coca-Cola to examine possibilities of current cans and alternatives to them, including 7.5-ounce cans to replace the normal 12-ounce ones.
The company is going one step further to label the cans with whether they are from a non-refrigerated or refrigerated truck as part of the testing across Arizona and Nevada.
While TWU Local 556 the Southwest Airlines flight attendants’ union, did not return a request for comment, photos of burst cans have been making rounds on social media in Facebook groups for Southwest staff. Several posts contained irritated and concerned comments about safety, with some writing that cans burst when they didn’t appear hot.
Southwest Airlines says it runs more than 4200 flights daily and wants to make sure it’s doing everything it can. Perry said, “We’re investigating the incident and reviewing changes to protect our employees and customers from extreme heat and weather change.”