Exploding soda cans on Southwest flights raise safety concerns amid record heat

The airline has confirmed approximately 20 injuries among staff due to the incidents, with one flight attendant requiring stitches.

Southwest Airlines has reported a series of soda can explosions aboard airplanes, attributed to the extreme temperatures sweeping across the Western United States. The airline has confirmed approximately 20 injuries among staff due to the incidents, with one flight attendant requiring stitches.

Heat can turn soda cans into tiny bombs. Hot air causes carbon dioxide molecules to move rapidly, increasing pressure inside the can. This pressure can become five to six times greater than the atmospheric pressure, leading to the cans warping and potentially bursting open.

The phenomenon, which has been more frequent this summer, has been particularly prevalent at airports in the West and Southwest, where temperatures have shattered long-standing records. Las Vegas, for instance, recently hit a scorching 120 degrees, marking the city’s highest temperature on record. It was followed up by a five-day stretch with a high at or above 115 degrees.

Southwest Airlines spokesperson Chris Perry emphasized the severity of the situation to the Washington Post, noting that cities such as Las Vegas, Phoenix and several in Texas have been experiencing earlier and more persistent severe heat due to climate change. The airline said soda cans are bursting, especially on flights departing from those cities where triple-digit temperatures are becoming the norm.

An internal Southwest Airlines memo dated July 12, directed at the airline’s flight attendants, underscored the urgency of the situation, according to CBS. It indicated that the company is taking proactive steps to ensure the safety of its employees and customers in the face of the fizzy fiasco.

The email details changes Southwest has made to address the problem, including stocking fewer cans on provisioning trucks to limit the amount of time the cans spend in the heat, placing carbonated drinks in coolers on trucks in hot weather locations, monitoring truck and can temperature with thermometers during shifts and "not boarding product when the outside temperature reaches levels known to elevate the risk of bursting cans."

The low-cost airline, known for not serving perishable food and thus not utilizing refrigerated trucks, is also exploring alternative methods to keep beverages cool. including the use of air-conditioned trucks at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas. Additionally, ground crews check the temperature of soda cans before loading them onto the aircraft, and flight attendants are advised against opening deformed or hot cans.