Southwest Airlines will require cabins to be prepared for landing earlier in order to protect cabin crew from injuries at the end of each flight. Starting December 4, flight attendants will have to be seated earlier – so they’ll require passengers to prepare for landing when a flight descends to 18,000 feet instead of waiting until 10,000 feet.
According to an internal memo,
As first announced last week in the Leader Update and video by Steve Murtoff and Lee Kinnebrew, VP Flight Operations, significant advancements in our descent procedures that reflect our unwavering commitment to Safety and well-being of our Flight Attendants will begin on December 4.
Inflight Safety and the TWU 556 Health and Safety Committee have been integral in developing these new procedures. Together, we have shaped procedures that prioritize your Safety and are fully aliged with our Company Safety objectives of preventing Flight Attendant Injury.
A summary of the December 4 changes include:
- At top of descent, the Pilots will make a required PA to inform the cabin that the descent phase has begun.
- At 18,000 feet, the Pilots will make one high-low chime, indicating the start of sterile flight deck. This chime serves as your cue to secure the cabin for landing and to be seated and secured in your jumpseats.
This procedural adjustment-Flight Attendants securing the cabin 8,000 feet earlier during descent-reflects years of research and your reporting through our Safety Management System (SMS). The evaluation of thousands of data points from Flight Attendant and Pilot reports paired with information from the Flight Data Analysis Program (FDAP), confirmed that seating our Flight Attendants earlier should reduce Flight Attendant injuries by at least 20%. Inflight and Flight Ops will validate the effectiveness of these new procedures, and if we do not achieve the desired result, we will conitnue to find solutions. We are also committed to sharing updates on these findings periodically.
This change requires final passthroughs of the cabin earlier. The final “please prepare for landing announcement” will come 8,000 feet earlier so that crew can finish their duties and be seated sooner. For customers this means,
- cabin service will end earlier
- beverages will be collected earlier
- seats will have to be placed in their upright and locked position earlier
- carry on bags and personal items will have to be stowed earlier
For awhile I used a convertible notebook instead of my more traditional ultraportable laptop. I don’t care about using a tablet most of the time. The only reason I liked my Lenovo Yoga was so that I could move into tablet mode during takeoff and landing when you’re supposed to have laptops stowed but you’re still permitted to use tablets.
I frequently want to eke out every last minute of productivity from my flights. Even though the size of that device was probably larger than it should have been to continue use, when converted into a tablet that’s the mental bucket crewmembers always put it in and none ever asked me to put it away.
I’ve been back to a Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon, and while noting that not all crew enforce putting laptops away, I always put it away when asked to do so and then just switch to my phone. I don’t like the idea of putting the laptop away earlier than necessary. Here it won’t be for landing as much as ‘earlier so that flight attendants see it’s away before they themselves sit down’.
United has moved to laptops away earlier, too. And flight attendant safety sounds great, especially when flagged as 20% improvement, though this projection remains off a small base and this doesn’t represent the same risk necessarily as abusive passengers or clear air turbulence.
Airlines should retain at least two agents at boarding gates to watch for inebriated customers, rather than the current cost-cutting trend of single agent boarding – the change to preparing the cabin for landing is a way to prioritize safety when it doesn’t cost the airline extra money.
I’d note that putting my laptop away on early on Southwest is maybe fine, because their inflight wifi so significantly lags the industry. These days only Frontier and Allegiant, which don’t offer wifi, are worse.
@Maleko I have a 40 minute coach ride from a city center to airport coming up. I don’t expect them to serve beverages of have a lav. I will prepare accordingly and feel I’ll be getting my $8 worth.
The haters with their sour comments are pathetic. Just remember had the federal government & airlines spent more money on basic safety measures to protect passengers & flight crews, the tragedies of Sept. 11th NEVER would have happened. . .
This has nothing to do with the flight attendants wanting to work less. This is related to safety. If you’re on a 45 minute flight and can’t survive without your coca-cola, then buy it at the airport before you get on the plane. To have someone seriously injured so you can guzzle down a soda? Seriously? Those of you worried about not getting your damn soda on a 45 minute flight because of this change are also probably the ones who would bring your suitcase and carry-on bag during an evacuation, but also forget your kid in their seat. Shame, shame, shame.
@Ryan
What the hell does that have to do with anything? Cut down on the drinking on layovers won’t you.
To the people saying it’s because they don’t want to work they’re stuck on the plane like that has nothing to do with it it has to do with the fact that flights are becoming more turbulent.
And also there’s more incidents with passengers doing things that are like fully insane like not terroristic per se but demented and certifiable yeah. So it’s a way to limit chaos on the way down
Thanks a lot bin laden
Probably a good idea. There are more planes in the air and all are navigating on GPS arrival routes which are extremely accurate. Thus the chances of encountering wing tip vortices (turbulence) from the preceding aircraft on the approach is more likely.
BTW, the most severe wing tip turbulence I ever encountered was while following a DC-10 Heavy into SFO. I remember it well as I’m sure most of the cabin occupants do. It was at the beginning of identifying Wing Tip Turbulence and was a lesson learned to remain “one dot” higher on the initial approach than the Heavy.
What’s amazing is that flight attendants on the long international flights from Asia and the Middle East keep serving customers until just a few minutes before the flight lands. These must be different places.. Foreign carriers must not have the same issues I guess.
@Patricia I guess if you have this condition it would be a stretch to buy yourself some water in the airport and take with you. Flight attendants should not have to babysit grown adults. Geez
Tell me about it
Honestly, SW is a garbage airline, along the lines of Spirit and other garbage carriers. I dont flynthem. But IMHO,.this is another so-called safety rule that has no basis reality.
If I was. SW passengers, ai would question why should I have to be uncomfortable with seat back upright and headrest down for longer? This won’t be popular with their crowd, and just another decline moving SW to Megan’s status
It’s about the safety of the flight attendants. Here are possible solutions to people who wants beverages served up to the time the plane is about ready to land … bring your own 2 liters soda on the plane with you. That should get you through your flight. I read a few comments that tablets /Ipads can be kept out as they are not considered laptops. If you’re a frequent flyer, and must have a screen in Fri t if you, consider purchasing a tablet/Ipad. Put your laptop in the overhead bin.
I checked FlightAware on a flight I will be taking soon. The timing between 18,000 feet and 10,000 feet was about 6 minutes. So 6 minutes is shaved off of the time to use a laptop. Although the rule is to not use laptops before the seatbelts sign is turned off after takeoff, there is no one walking around the cabin to enforce that rule so I would suppose that someone could take out their laptop and start it up in airplane mode during that time. I would suppose waiting until 10,000 feet has been achieved would be better. A laptop usually wirelessly connects the same way that a tablet does or a smart phone does so I don’t really understand the different rules. I rarely use a laptop on a flight and that also goes for a cellphone, but I always have them within reach. Sometimes I have a tablet, too, but I rarely use it on a flight.
Then why offer me a drink coupon? I’m sure this is built into the cost of the fare, so I should reasonably expect a beverage. I always purchase the business select ticket, so is it too much for me to expect something to drink? Four out of the last five times I’ve flown, I didn’t receive a drink anyway.
US Airlines are in general pathetic and the staff is entitled. Look at whats happenning in Asia in China in India. there they go the extra length and are grateful to just to you having chosen to fly their airlines… now look at the US Airlines… this is a pathetic 4th world country.
And so the product degradations to satisfy the Elliot Management overlords begins.
Look for many more product degradations to follow fast & furiously in the coming new year.
Surprised the author did not mention his article of one year ago when United implemented this policy as an injury mitigation strategy. Data has shown a >30% reduction in turbulence injuries over the summer. These are broken hips, legs etc. life changing injuries. There were skeptics at first even amongst our flight attendants and pilots, but the data is clear. Incidentally, all US airlines eagerly share this type of safety data because we don’t compete on safety. The safety of our passengers and cabin crew is always first and foremost for us as pilots.