Starting Dec. 4, Southwest flight attendant crews will wrap up in-flight service at 18,000 feet to begin preparing the cabin for landing sooner, a spokesperson for the Dallas-based carrier confirmed to ABC News.
What does ending cabin service earlier mean for Southwest passengers?
On Southwest flights, the process of passengers buckling up, raising their seat backs, and putting away tray tables and electronics will begin about 10 minutes earlier than previous flights when cabin service concludes at 10,000 feet.
Southwest said this decision came to be as a collaboration between its labor partners and safety teams.
Many turbulence-related injuries have happened during that descent period, and according to the National Transportation Safety Board, more than one-third of all U.S. airline incidents between 2009 and 2018 were related to turbulence, most of which resulted in one or more serious injuries.
Southwest is not the first airline to adjust this timing. United Airlines previously made a similar change to prepare for landings at 10,000 feet instead of 8,000 feet, the carrier confirmed to ABC News.
The Federal Aviation Administration also told ABC News that it has a long history of working with operators to prevent turbulence injuries.