Updated July 24, 2024 at 13:38 PM ET
Summer temperatures across the U.S. are so high that they’ve created problems at cruising altitude, causing some overheated beverages to burst midair on a number of Southwest Airlines flights.
Many of the airports where Southwest has a large presence — such as Phoenix, Las Vegas, Austin, Dallas, Houston and Sacramento — are located in cities that have already broken temperature records this year, as a result of heat waves fueled by climate change.
Southwest confirmed to NPR that heat has warped some cans and caused others to burst upon opening, an issue it’s been communicating with employees about since the spring. But it stressed there haven’t been any reported incidents involving customers.
“We’re aware of the issue and have been taking steps to keep onboard beverages cooler, especially in our airports experiencing extreme temperatures,” spokesperson Chris Perry said in a statement.
Some 20 flight attendants have been injured by exploding cans this summer, including one who required stitches, according to CBS News.
Bill Bernal, the president of TWU Local 556 — the union that represents Southwest flight attendants — told NPR in a statement that its safety team has been working on the "issue of exploding cans and the associated risk they pose to our Members for years now."
He said that Southwest management joined those efforts in January, and both parties have agreed to a "viable short term and long term plan and associated timeline." New measures include using refrigerated trailers for storage and refrigerated trucks for deliveries.
"The Union's Safety Team and Southwest Management will be reviewing data on a monthly basis to verify that these mitigation strategies are working and will also be verifying that timeline gates are being met," Bernal said, adding the fixes should "eventually all but eradicate the exploding can issue at Southwest Airlines."
The issue appears to be unique to Southwest, which handles in-flight beverages differently than other airlines.
It does its own provisioning and doesn’t handle perishables, since it does not serve meals during flights. The company is now testing out trucks with air-conditioned cargo areas in Phoenix and Las Vegas.
It’s also telling airport teams to use digital thermometers to take the temperature of cans before loading up each plane, and to hold back any cans that read above 98 degrees Fahrenheit.
Once airborne, the company is instructing flight attendants — who take passengers’ orders and then bring them their drink, rather than pushing a beverage cart through the aisle — to not open any cans that look misshapen or feel hot to the touch, and to instead offer customers an alternative and an apology.
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