CULTURE

Why Airlines Shouldn’t Ban Alcohol On Flights

We need to hold adults accountable without penalizing everyone for bad behavior

In a civil society, there is always a balance between allowing freedom of choice for consenting adults and protecting the community as a whole. Even in a liberal democracy where we expect to be allowed to do whatever we please as long as it doesn’t infringe on someone else’s rights, we make sacrifices for the good of the whole.

We have laws governing seat belts and motorcycle helmets, smoking in public spaces, automobile safety, building codes, and all manner of laws to protect the citizenry. Freedom in a civil society is not anarchy but a balanced approach to safety and liberty.

Axios is reporting that Southwest has said that it will resume alcohol sales on most of its flights starting February 16. Southwest was the first major airline to suspend alcohol sales at the start of the pandemic. The union representing Southwest Airlines flight attendants says it opposes the airline’s plan to resume alcohol sales on flights because it could increase customer “misconduct issues.”

Presumably, the flight attendants union would prefer they prohibit the sale of alcohol indefinitely, which, if I was a flight attendant, I’d probably support. Why make their job harder if they don’t have to?

The problem is that airline travel is almost unbearable as it stands now, and there is no sign that it’s ever going to get any better. For some people, a drink or two is the only thing keeping them from a cross-country Greyhound bus or death.

I’d like to lay the blame on all the recent violence in the sky on Trumpistas and anti-vaxxers, but the reality is I blame Ronald Reagan. He’s the one who deregulated the airline industry and allowed them to first put profits over people. They no longer had to compete on service, so they could cut back on the cost of the experience so they could try to compete on price. They raced each other to the bottom, and this is why air travel sucks.

Now Delta Airlines is asking the Justice Department to create a national No-Fly list to combat the rash of bad behavior being perpetrated on airline employees. This seems like the least that should be done.

The one thing airlines should not do is take away the only salve they offer on their uncomfortable cattle cars in the sky. Banning alcohol because some people are entitled assholes who think they’re the center of the universe is the wrong message to send. They shouldn’t be allowed to ruin it for everyone. They should be banished instead. The message will get through soon enough. No more business trips. No international vacations. There would be real consequences to your fight for freedumb.

Fly the friendly skies, they told us.