SEATTLE, Dec. 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Winter
weather, displaced crew members and aircraft, and the continued
impact of the omicron variant on staffing levels are converging to
cause more canceled and delayed flights for Alaska
Airlines this week.
Today, 170 flights were canceled across Alaska's network, with more cancellations
and delays expected throughout the week. As we head into Wednesday
and Thursday, we're proactively thinning Seattle departures by about 20% to allow for
the additional time it takes to deice aircraft, a requirement
during winter weather.
The weather in Seattle is
impacting guests beyond the Pacific Northwest. We strongly urge
flyers with non-essential travel scheduled before January 2, 2022, to consider changing their
travel to a later date using our flexible travel policy. With more
snow expected and limited seats available during an already busy
holiday week, we're not able to re-accommodate most guests for at
least three days.
"We deeply apologize for the inconvenience this winter storm has
on our guests and employees and are working hard to return to the
level of service you know and expect from us, while operating
safely," said Constance von Muehlen,
Alaska Airlines chief operating officer and executive vice
president.
If guests cannot reschedule their flights at this time, rest
assured we will hold the value of their ticket until they are ready
to travel again. Learn more about our Customer Service Commitment
here.
Tips for guests traveling this week:
- Before heading to the airport, check your email or
alaskaair.com to see if your flight is impacted.
- If your flight has been canceled, do not go to the airport to
change your itinerary.
- Managing your reservation online is the best option. Our
Contact Center is experiencing hold times of more than 20 hours. To
reduce long hold times, guests without immediate needs are asked to
wait to contact us about their itineraries until next week.
- Guests impacted by cancellations and delays may be eligible for
reimbursement of reasonable travel expenses by providing flight
information and expense details here.
- If your flight is canceled while you're at the airport and
you've checked a bag, please immediately claim it at the baggage
carousel before leaving the airport.
Our baggage service teams are working around the clock to
reunite unclaimed bags with their owners. It will take several days
to complete this work, but our agents will contact every guest to
arrange pick-up or delivery.
We greatly appreciate the patience of our guests and tireless
efforts from our employees during this busy travel period.
About Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines and our regional partners serve more than 120
destinations across the United
States, Belize,
Canada, Costa Rica and Mexico. We emphasize Next-Level Care for our
guests, along with providing low fares, award-winning customer
service and sustainability efforts. Alaska is a member of the oneworld
global alliance. With the alliance and our additional airline
partners, guests can travel to more than 1,000 destinations on more
than 20 airlines while earning and redeeming miles on flights to
locations around the world. Learn more about Alaska at newsroom.alaskaair.com and
blog.alaskaair.com. Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air are
subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK).
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SOURCE Alaska Airlines
