WN FA serves drink, 3min later demands it be thrown away
 

To pre-empt; I'm not at all out 'upset' by this incident, but posting this as an inquiry on WN policy.

Wife and I took a short (<1hr) flight from IND to MDW. FA gave wife a water. Wife mixes in some Emergen-C and takes a swig, gets a quarter of it down and then interrupted. FA storms through the aisle (obviously in a hurry that drink service was delayed due to weather, and landing was minutes away) asking everyone who was given a drink to throw it away in her trash bag. "You have to throw that away right now." Followed by "we shouldn't have done drink service."

....really? We HAVE to throw away plastic cups into your trash bag? I get that she made the mistake of mistiming service - but has it ever been WN's policy that cups handed out in flight be thrown away before landing?

Yes.

Same policy at Alaska, Delta, AA, United etc.

Most airlines require "service items" be collected and bagged before landing. Probably as a way to speed turnaround. Dozens of plastic cups littering the aisle could also be a safety issue - but I have no basis for that.

Then this was all unfortunate coincidence with a pushy FA, nothing more. No love lost. Perhaps because I'm a window-seat occupant, I often have my drink overlooked when it came to collection and have thrown it away myself. The more you know!

Collecting all service items before landing is an essential element of a carrier's safety & security policy.

Failure to adhere to it may result in substantial fines for both WN and the FA.

It is also simple common sense.

^cool cool

so the pineapple juice I took from my jetBlue flight last night and drank this morning is in violation of federal law...

great

No...re-read the law...that was not provided to you by the certificate holder of that flight.

Had you opened it on original flight and unable to stow it in baggage, then yes it would have been.

Did you stow it in your personal item or luggage before landing?

Glad to see the OP has come back and said COOL.

Yes, other airlines do it as well. Actually, the mainstream airlines more often than not would have just skipped service all together, and eliminated the issue. As a former Plat level on Delta for many years, I am still amazed that on every single SW flight they still serve vs the hit and miss with DL on short flights.

Meanwhile... While placing the traveling public in extreme danger, I have been known to hold onto a drink glass when them came down the aisle (rare occassion). I apologize to those I place in danger.

I don't fly that frequently but I've seen this rule "violated" by United in first class many times. I know its the policy/law but I think that FA went completely overboard. He/she probably could have just told OP's wife to make sure it was finished by the time they start landing. I understand the rule though and it its common sense up to a point, and that point is when there is ridiculous enforcement as if we are on a space shuttle. I always assumed they came by with the trash bags multiple times so that the cleaning crew could move through the plane quicker. I agree though, in the bigger scheme of things it sounds like the FA was just having a bad day.

That is significantly less than 1 hr. I believe that in-air time is in the range of 35 minutes.

Bottles of water, a beverage furnished by the certificate holder routinely in F and J on flights, are routinely located at passenger seats for landing.