Southwest Airlines has been having a bumpy ride lately.
The airline decided to start charging for bags, despite being known as the airline where Bags Fly Free. Customers, unsurprisingly, were not happy.
Southwest has also gotten a lot of negative attention for changing its policies for plus-size travelers.
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In addition to these major issues the airline faces as it grapples with its brand identity, another problem has been plaguing it. This one is actually a serious safety issue, and Southwest Airlines had to spend millions to resolve it.
Southwest Airlines takes on climate change-related safety risk
The safety issue Southwest has been dealing with is a surprising one. It may not seem like a big deal, but the problem of exploding soda cans is very real.
Unfortunately, as climate change worsens, this summer has been a very hot one. As a result, Southwest has seen its stock of soda cans climb to very unsafe temperatures.
Some of the soda cans are stored at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), where the temperature can reach over 110 degrees as the daily high.
Related: Southwest Airlines cancels hundreds of flights from July to Sept.
Cans were building up pressure in transport trucks when a plane was being restocked, in large part because Southwest did not use refrigerated trucks, as other airlines did.
Once the lower cabin pressure kicked in on the plane at altitude, this magnified the internal-to-external pressure differential and resulted in the cans being essentially turned into bombs.
The unfortunate result of this excessive heat is that the soda cans can end up exploding on the plane, which, of course, creates a big safety risk.
Exploring soda cans cause flight attendant injuries
According to SimplyFlying, close to two dozen flight attendants sustained injuries in the summer of 2024 because of exploding soda cans.
View from the Wing also reports that, fortunately, there were no passenger injuries caused by these explosions. However, the galleys were left sticky and unsafe as a result of the dangerous incidents.
Related: JetBlue cancels all flights to major US airport, offers customer refunds
One member of the team in Phoenix, whose role includes restocking planes with drinks and snacks, also told CBS News about experiencing the problem firsthand. “Once it got up to 105, 110, you started hearing the cans before you even saw 'em you could hear 'em deforming. When it was 115, 120, half of your stock would be deformed. So yeah, it was bad.”
Southwest Airlines spends millions to fix the problem
Southwest Airlines could not just keep allowing soda cans to explode on staff members, and it was only a matter of time until a passenger got hurt by the liquid beverage bombs.
As a result, Southwest took action and incurred a big expense. It ended up buying 60 refrigerated trucks. They were sent to both Phoenix and Arizona, both areas where the airline had problems because of the excessive heat affecting its beverage supply.
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The refrigerated trucks keep the temperature to around 40 degrees. And, just to make absolutely sure there are no problems, crew members also have heat guns.
These can be used to check the temperature of the cabs to ensure that they have stayed below 80 degrees. If they are too hot, they won't be loaded on the plane.
Southwest will expand its plan to provide enhanced safety
Southwest is also going to be expanding its efforts to improve safety in light of this heat risk. It will soon add refrigerated trucks to Dallas and Houston as well.
Ground and in-flight teams have also been provided with training on the best way to handle cans that are too hot, which should help keep everyone much safer in the summer heat.
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