As flights increase, Southwest Airlines is reducing its COVID-focused cleaning protocol. The policy change is due to a recent increase in flight schedules, allowing for less downtime between flights, the airline confirmed to Travel + Leisure (T+L) on Tuesday.
Effective July, the airline is only disinfecting high-touch areas such as bathrooms and tray tables between flights. Armrests and seat belts will not be disinfected between flights.
So, bring-your-own or request sanitizing wipes from Southwest if you wish to disinfect your seat area on the airplane before sitting down.
The change was announced in a memo to employees, obtained by USA Today and reported on Monday. The new cleaning protocol focuses on the bathrooms and tray tables because those are “the most important areas to clean between each flight as they are prone to contamination from customer use and food/beverage consumption.”
Most air travelers may find it peculiar that armrests and seat belts aren’t “prone to contamination from customer use.”
A Southwest spokesperson goes on to say to T+L, “Since flight schedules have increased, other areas of the aircraft will be disinfected during our overnight cleaning process, when Southwest Teams spend six to seven hours per aircraft cleaning all interior surfaces. Additionally, our electrostatic spraying process applies a disinfectant and spray that forms an anti-microbial coating that kills viruses on contact for 30 days.”
What has not changed? Southwest will continue many of its coronavirus procedures – for now. These include boarding passengers in smaller groups and blocking the middle seat through October, thus limiting the number of passengers on board each flight.
The airline also recently announced that it will test thermal cameras at select airports to check passengers’ temperatures.
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