After 2 Years, American Airlines Resumes Long Awaited Booze Sales on Flights

An American Airlines plane approaches the runway at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on April 2. (Photo by DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images)

After a two-year hiatus, American Airlines on Monday resumed the sale of alcohol on its flights.

“Beginning April 18, American will slowly reintroduce its buy-on-board program including alcohol and light snacks to domestic main cabin flights,” an American Airlines spokesperson said, according to CNBC. “Customers traveling on flights over 250 miles will be offered beer, wine and spirits.”

American will keep its alcohol prices the same as they were before the pandemic, according to CNBC. Spirits and wine servings will be $9. Beer is $8.

American Airlines also will introduce “touchless ordering” for passengers beginning later this year.

The company was one of many airlines to pause the in-flight sale of alcoholic beverages at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.

American Airlines delayed the resumption of its alcoholic beverage sales due to unruly passengers causing violent incidents. Nearly 6,000 cases of unruly airline passengers were reported to the Federal Aviation Administration in 2021, resulting in 1,113 investigations. In 2022, 1,150 cases were reported, leading to 345 investigations, as of April 12.

United Airlines resumed inflight alcohol sales in October. Southwest announced plans to do the same in January and received blowback from the union representing its flight attendants.

In December, Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey called for a ban on airplane alcohol sales, citing high tempers over mask mandates from passengers whose anger is intensified by inebriation.

Here at Whiskey Raiders, we do more than write about current events in whiskey. We are the only media property reviewing whiskeys and aggregating the scores and reviews of other significant voices in the whiskey world in one place. If you’re interested in getting a shot of whiskey in your morning email, sign up for our Daily Dram Gram!