United Airlines announced that it is going to start selling hard liquor starting November 15. Normally, alcoholic beverages are offered in economy class for flights that are at least 301 miles long. Passengers can choose from beer, cocktail, wine, or hard alcohol. However, passengers will need to order via United Airlines’ contactless payment system.
United partnered with PayPal for passengers who wish to buy drinks during the flight. United’s app has 2.5 million users, considered the most downloaded app in the airline industry.
Hard Liquor Options
There will also be new choices for next month. The black cherry-flavored White Claws will replace the mango-flavored hard seltzer. Then, you have the Goose Island Neon Beer Hug IPA that will take the place of Breckenridge Brewery Juicy Drop Hazy IPA. And lastly, the Kona Longboard Island Lager will be available instead of the Kona Big Wave Golden Ale.
Halting Alcohol Sales
United stopped selling in-flight drinks when the pandemic started. However, United reintroduced wine and beer by November last year. On the other hand, other airlines are still holding off plans of selling hard liquor and other alcoholic beverages.
American Airlines announced that it won’t sell alcohol in its economy class until mid-January next year. The same for Southwest Airlines. Southwest plans to hold off alcohol until at least January after seeing a good number of unruly passengers.
Both American and Southwest’s dates are related to the deadline of the federal mask mandate. The expanded federal mask mandate will last at least until January 18.
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA proposed to ban alcohol on airports to lessen the occurrences of unruly passengers. Since the start of the year, the FAA received more than 4,900 cases of unruly passenger incidents. 72% of these cases relate to passengers not wearing their masks properly. There were some instances when passengers attacked flight attendants. On Wednesday, an American Airlines flight rerouted to Denver when a passenger attacked a flight attendant.
