Source: Alaska Airlines

(Last Updated 27 December 2021, 4pm PT)

Residents across the Pacific Northwest who hoped for a white Christmas got their wish on Sunday as winter storms spread across the region, including Seattle.

Snow and freezing weather continue to disrupt our operation at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, our largest hub. On Monday, we had to unfortunately cancel 214 mainline and regional flights. With forecasts calling for bitter cold temperatures throughout the week and snow on Thursday more flights could be canceled throughout the next several days.

“We’re deeply sorry to our guests for the delay in their holiday travel plans and are working hard to reposition aircraft and crews back to the West Coast to get everyone where they need to be as quickly and safely as possible,” said Constance von Muehlen, chief operating officer and executive vice president.

Here’s what to do if you’re traveling with us to/from SEA:  

  • Monitor your flight status and view recommended arrival times.
  • If you wish to change your flight(s), a flexible travel policy is in place for travel through Jan. 2.
  • Our Reservations team is experiencing hold times of up to 11 hours. The quickest way to reschedule or change your ticket is online at alaskaair.com or Alaska’s mobile app.
  • Guests impacted by cancellations or delays may be eligible for reimbursement of reasonable travel expenses by providing flight information and expense details here. Please note: Reimbursements may take up to several weeks to review and process, and some exceptions may apply.

Save your spot in line, we’ll get in touch with you ASAP. 

Our Reservations team has been coordinating round the clock with our operations to get those who are impacted on the next available flight. If there is an available flight for you to be rebooked on, you should receive an email from us at the email address you shared in your reservation.

Our call centers are currently experiencing extremely high call volumes and encourage guests to check their flight status and try to rebook on alaskaair.com or our mobile app before calling 1-800-ALASKAAIR (1-800-252-7522). When you call, there is also a convenient option for us to call you back and save your place in line so you can avoid longer hold-times.

Safety first.

These extreme weather events just don’t impact the movement of our planes, but also our people. It’s important that our flight crews don’t exceed their FAA-regulated duty periods—that’s the allowable length of a safe workday for pilots and flight attendants. If the crew exceeds that duty period, flights are delayed or even canceled.

Other factors can include when the FAA periodically activates ground stops, as it did on Sunday, to prevent arriving aircraft from landing at Sea-Tac. That’s in addition to ground delay programs, which can be activated to decrease the number of planes flying into   an airport, which gives our teams more time to de-ice aircraft and put more spacing between planes arriving and departing.

Looking ahead: 

This has been an un-merry couple of days for all of us, and we appreciate the patience of our guests and tireless effort from our employees during this busy travel period and are doing everything we can to get you to your destination while operating safely!

In the days ahead, it will take time to reposition our flight crews and aircraft as we get our operations back to normal, especially since Seattle is our largest hub. This could also require further delays and cancellations.

This post will be updated with the latest information related to our operations in Seattle as it becomes available.