American Airlines resumes alcohol service on some flights
Customers can have beer, wine and spirits on flights over 250 miles
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American Airlines is slowly reintroducing the sale of alcohol on board starting Monday after halting the service for domestic flights for more than two years.
On April 18, the airline will begin its "buy-on-board" program, offering beer, wine and spirits to customers on flights over 250 miles, the U.S. carrier told FOX Business in a statement.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAL | AMERICAN AIRLINES GROUP INC. | 14.02 | +0.13 | +0.94% |
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Soda, tea, water and some snacks will continue to be provided and customers traveling over 1,500 miles will be able to purchase other snacks. The carrier also said it will "phase in new menu items throughout the year."
A passenger talks on the phone as an American Airlines jets sit parked at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh / AP Newsroom)
The carrier halted alcohol sales in early 2020 as the coronavirus continued to rapidly spread throughout the world and airlines mandated mask requirements for passengers. However, similar to Southwest Airlines, American had delayed the resumption of alcoholic beverage sales due to unruly passengers causing violent incidents onboard flights, FOX Business previously reported.
SOUTHWEST AIRLINES WILL RESUME SERVING ALCOHOLIC DRINKS THIS MONTH
In January 2021, then-FAA Administrator Steve Dickson officially signed the zero-tolerance order, creating a stricter enforcement policy against unruly airline passengers after seeing a "disturbing increase in incidents where airline passengers have disrupted flights with threatening or violent behavior."
Travelers walk through in Salt Lake City International Airport on March 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer / AP Newsroom)
OVER 200 UNRULY AIRLINE PASSENGERS REPORTED JANUARY, STILL FAR BELOW A YEAR AGO
Dickson, who was replaced by Billy Nolen this month, then issued a warning letter to airports saying the agency had noticed a correlation between the uptick in unruly passengers and alcohol in August.
Throughout 2021, airlines reported over 5,900 cases of unruly passengers to the FAA, with the majority of cases being mask-related incidents.
This year, there have already been over 1,100 reported cases, although the rate of unruly passenger incidents "dropped by nearly 60% since record-highs in early 2021," according to the FAA.
FOX News' Adam Sabes and The Associated Press contributed to this report.