American Airlines Not Quite Ready To Serve Alcohol Yet, At Least In Economy

As other airlines have slowly resumed serving alcohol in their main cabins after a pandemic-induced hiatus, American Airlines is still not convinced that people will behave. So it's putting off the resumption until early next year at the very least, reports USA Today. This pertains specifically to economy class, as first class passengers are still allowed to purchase alcohol. I'm assuming that people will still be sneaking booze onto airplanes on their own, however, taking advantage of airport to-go cups meant to be imbibed at the gate.

The original plan was to restart alcohol sales this summer, but apparently the airline wasn't convinced that was a good idea just yet. It planned to bring back alcohol on September 13.

American's senior manager of flight service policies and procedures, Stacey Frantz, said regarding alcoholic beverage sales, "We are doing all we can to help create a safe environment for our crew and customers onboard our aircraft."

Southwest Airlines is still not serving alcohol, either, because some people couldn't handle it. Booze was supposed to be back as an option on June 24 for Hawaiian flights, with most flights resuming the practice on July 14. After a flight attendant was physically assaulted, though, the airline nixed the idea. At this point Southwest doesn't even have a timeline as to when sales will resume.

Personally, I never enjoyed drinking before or during a flight. Alcohol makes me feel like garbage when I'm up in the air; maybe it's the altitude or that dry, ancient recycled air turning me into a raisin. We asked you what you thought about imbibing at 30,000 feet, and many of you were generally down with the practice, so maybe I'm just a fuddy-duddy. But I have in fact seen grown-ass adults misbehaving and verbally abusing flight attendants, and the fact that people don't know basic human decency is really frustrating. Blame those bad apples for taking away your fun.