Summer heat is making soda cans explode on Southwest flights

Hot summer temperatures in parts of the United States are causing a side effect 30,000 feet up – bursting cans of soda on Southwest Airlines flights.

At least 20 of the airline’s flight attendants have been injured so far this summer by cans that exploded as they were opening them. The airline, which confirmed the problem to The Washington Post, believes the cans became too hot before being loaded on board those flights.

Because Southwest doesn’t serve meals or perishable foods, it doesn’t use refrigerated trucks, unlike other airlines, meaning soda stored at airports is heating up on sweltering days.

“We are aware of the issue and have begun taking steps to attempt to mitigate it,” said Southwest spokesman Chris Perry.

The summer has produced record heat and extreme temperatures in spots across the country, with climate change-fueled heat waves worldwide. Nearly a dozen southwestern U.S. cities matched or broke record temperatures last month when a heat dome set in, prompting heat warnings throughout the region. Las Vegas and Phoenix have regularly reached triple-digit temperatures this summer, with record-breaking heat.

Southwest’s soda problems have mainly occurred in those cities, along with a few others that routinely have hot days. In addition to Las Vegas and Phoenix, the airline is working to address the soda-storage issue in Dallas, Austin, Houston and Sacramento.

“Airports where we have a large presence – such as Las Vegas, Phoenix and many in Texas – continue to receive record temperatures, with severe heat arriving earlier and persisting throughout the summer,” Perry said. “For the safety of our employees and customers, we are taking education and mitigation measures on all heat-related hazards.”

Southwest has directed ground crews to digitally measure the temperature of soda cans before loading them on a departing flight, and flight attendants have been instructed not to open cans that appear deformed. The airline is also testing the use of some air-conditioned trucks in Las Vegas.

Though bursting soda cans have been an issue in past years, the airline has experienced an uptick in reports this year. The airline could not quantify how frequently it is occurring.

No passenger injuries have been reported. The airline did not provide information about the nature of the injuries to flight attendants. The Southwest flight attendants’ union did not respond to a request from The Washington Post on Thursday.

The soda problem comes as consumer travel demand has reached a new all-time high, partly because of the still-new travel flexibility for remote workers. The Transportation Security Administration announced a record for passenger screenings last month. On July 7, the TSA counted more than 3 million passenger screenings in a single day, breaking the record of just under 3 million people that was set two weeks earlier on June 23.