Alaska Airlines flights resume after Seattle snowstorm

A Pacific Northwest snowstorm that hit the Seattle area overnight Sunday severely disrupted operations and grounded flights at Alaska Airlines' hub in the Northwest city Monday, including several to Alaska.

The airline said in an updated blog post Monday afternoon that it was extending an offer of free ticket cancellations or changes to and from four West Coast airports in Washington and Oregon, in anticipation of "additional flight cancellations expected for this evening."

Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Ann Zaninovich said that nine flights affecting Alaska — among them, seven between Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and Anchorage, as well as one between Sea-Tac and Fairbanks — had been canceled as of 3:35 p.m. due to the snowfall Monday.

No additional flights affecting Alaska had been canceled by Monday evening, said spokeswoman Bobbie Egan. Alaska Airlines had no plans to cancel flights on Tuesday, she said.

The airline blog said that 3 to 5 inches of snow at the Seattle airport had forced the cancellation of more than 80 Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air flights, affecting an estimated 10,000 customers. Dozens of other flights out of Seattle were canceled or held "to prevent gridlock at Sea-Tac."

"The conditions are so severe at Sea-Tac that it's taking our crews 30 to 40 minutes to deice a single plane," Wayne Newton, the airline's Seattle-based managing director of operations, said in the post. "If you don't have to travel today, it's a good day to stay home."

Snow stopped falling Monday afternoon and things were returning to normal at the airport, Egan said. Sea-Tac tweeted a picture around 4:30 showing partially cloudy skies and wet, clear runways.

The airline urged travelers to check the status of their flights online before heading to the airport and to budget additional travel time in Seattle to reach the airport. Passengers on affected flights to or from Sea-Tac, as well as Portland and two other Oregon airports, may request refunds or free changes in their flight itineraries on Alaska.

Seattle TV station KING 5 reported Monday that more than 100,000 people had lost power and hundreds of school schedules were affected due to the dump across Puget Sound, after snowfall beginning overnight Sunday that reached a foot in some areas.
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