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New Southwest Cleaning Protocols: Disinfect Tray Tables, But Tidy Cabins

Chicago, Illinois, USA - May 21, 2013: Southwest Airlines aircraft on the move with the Chicago skyline in the background.

As Southwest Airlines moves to resume flying more routes during the COVID-19 pandemic, their cleaning protocols will change. Effective Saturday, Aug. 1, 2020, the airline will only disinfect tray tables, while moving back to their normal cleaning and tidying process outlined in employee manuals.

Southwest Airlines is asking flight crews and ramp agents to turn aircraft faster, as the carrier begins to ramp up their schedule and turn aircraft faster. In a memo obtained by FlyerTalk and verified by USA Today, the airline will only have one ramp agent disinfecting tray tables only to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

New Cleaning Procedure Cleans Tray Tables, While “Tidying” Cabins for Next Flight

Under the orders given by Southwest senior director of base operations Mike Sims, the new cleaning policy was developed after gathering feedback from both employees and customers. After experimenting with five different procedures at Dallas Love Airport (DAL), the airline came up with the new cleaning process.

“The decision was made to focus on a few items – our tray tables and lavatories,” the memo from Sims reads. “These were the most important areas for us to clean in between each flight as they are prone to contamination from customer use and food/beverage consumption.”

Upon arrival, a ramp agent will board the aircraft, and allow all passengers to disembark. Once complete, the ground team member will go through the aircraft and disinfect all of the tray tables, including the top, bottom, and latch. They will not clean seats or armrests, where passengers were sitting or touching during the flight.

Ramp agents will also be responsible for cleaning lavatories during each stop, unless they land at a provisioning station. At those airports, the provisioning agent will clean the lavatories.

Meanwhile, the flight attendants will go through the cabin and “tidy the aircraft,” including crossing seatbelts and picking up any remaining trash. They will not be responsible for cleaning or disinfecting any other surfaces.

Although the carrier is focused on turning flights faster, the airline said in their memo that they will continue some of their COVID-19 protocols. The carrier will continue “enhanced cleaning” every night, while completing an electrostatic “deep cleaning” every 30 days.

Southwest Continues to Block Middle Seats and Offer Sanitizing Wipes

While the airline is changing how they clean aircraft, it doesn’t mean that they are completely abandoning all safety measures. The airline previously announced they would continue to block middle seats through October 2020, and offer sanitizing wipes to flyers upon requests to clean air surfaces.

“As always, Southwest will monitor Customer and Employee feedback as we adapt to the new normal in air travel,” airline spokesperson Ro Hawthorne told USA Today. “While ensuring we keep safety as our top priority.”

Cleaning is just one problem the airline is facing with passengers. Starting this month, the airline will also ask flyers to not consume alcohol they have brought on board, in lieu of traditional cabin services.

12 Comments
K
kkua August 10, 2020

Guess they don’’t want to share the top spot of having the cleanest germ-free fleet anymore. Now only if DL can extend their empty middle seat to the end of the year….

D
DEN August 8, 2020

Yet another reason Southwest remains on my “No Fly” list

K
KRSW August 7, 2020

Southwest: Name me one passenger who said, "please don't clean the armrests!" I have a feeling it's going to be a very short...blank...list.

J
jjonathan August 6, 2020

The only thing for the individual to protect him or her self is to STOP flying these careless airlines..... The airlines are not our personal friends

9
96SS August 6, 2020

That would be an additional virus cleaning fee. WCBC, want clean, buy clean.