Page 7 - IAV Digital Magazine #599

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Southwest Airlines Deals
With Exploding Soda Cans
On Flights In Some Cities
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBfiOAMy6Ds
By Andrea Guzmán, Texas Brands Reporter
A hot Texas
summer involves a battle with exploding soda cans for Southwest Airlines.
At least 20 flight attendants have been injured this summer after soda cans burst and exploded when opened, the Washington Post reports. The Dallas airline thinks the cause of the problem is that the cans became too hot
before they were loaded onto flights.
Southwest is vulnerable to this problem because the airline doesn't serve perish- able foods, and therefore stores soda at airports rather than refrigerated trucks like other airlines.
"We’re aware of the issue and have been taking steps to keep onboard bev- erages cooler, especially in our airports experiencing
extreme temperatures," Southwest said in a state- ment. "It’s a cross-function- al effort between our air- port teams and those in the air."
"Airports where we have a large presence—such as Las Vegas, Phoenix and many in Texas—continue to receive record tempera- tures, with severe heat arriving earlier and persist- ing throughout the sum- mer," a spokesperson added.
The company noted they are taking education and mitigation measures on all heat-related hazards. Ground crews are being instructed to digitally meas- ure the temperature of soda cans before loading them onto a departing flight and flight attendants are being told to avoid opening cans that look deformed, the Washington Post reported.
Deformed cans can be a sign of trouble because it indicates internal pressure in a can that hasn't been manufactured perfectly or is incredibly overheated.
As KUT reports, a typical soda can is designed to handle internal pressure about six times greater than external pressure without warping. But when a can is left in the heat, carbon dioxide molecules move faster and separate from liquid, causing the can to balloon out or possibly explode.
So, Southwest is learning that it's better to store cans in a cool place, and is test- ing whether it's effective to have them in air condi- tioned trucks in Las
Vegas.
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine