Alaska Airlines - a warning for you

[disney-super-mom]

I'm not sure what's going on with Alaska/Horizon airlines, but two of our flights were cancelled due to "mechanical problems", and several other people flying with Alaska had cancelled flights as well for "mechanical problems". Maybe they're trying to cut back on costs and not keeping enough maintanence and mechanics on staff to check the planes between flights, but I just wanted to warn all of you before you book with Alaska, so you wouldn't be stuck in an airport until all hours of the night like we were last night with two little ones (DS 6 and DS 2). I also talked to one of the employees at a food service counter in the Seattle airport, and she said that this happens with Alaska airlines "all the time" , but she didn't know why.

Anyway, either their planes are just falling apart, or they just don't have enough staff. I'm guessing it's the later of the two. Hopefully they'll get their act together in the future, but you may want to consider this information when booking flights for your next Disney vacation.

 

[safetymom]

I think that happens with quite a few airlines. It is just part of the joy of flying.

 

[disney-super-mom]

I think that happens with quite a few airlines. It is just part of the joy of flying.

I just don't agree with that in this case. We fly at least once or twice a year and have never seen a problem like this before. I mean, if you think about it, what are the chances of the same airline, at the same airport, having several planes with mechanical problems and therefore having to cancel several different flights, all at the same time - and all of this happening both coming and going (for us anyway). It just doesn't make any sense. Maybe it's just a Seattle thing for Alaska airlines?

 

[safetymom]

Been there done that. I was at an airport where the flight I was supposed to be on was delayed for mechanical reasons. Several hours later they decided to put me on another flight because I would miss my connection. Then that flight was delayed for mechanical reasons. We took off and were about 15 mins. out when the left engine blew. It was a scary ride back to the airport to be met with fire trucks and ambulances lining the runway.

This was in Ohio and wasn't Alaska airlines. It does happen.

 

[MinnieM21]

I've been flying Alaska Airlines for years and I haven't experienced any problems. I'm sorry you had to deal with that.

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

I think its deffinitely one of those joys of traveling. I travel very frequently and end up with mechanic issues on delta, united, america and all the rest when I fly. I primarily fly delta and only have had 2 mechanical issues on them so not to bad for how much I fly. Alaska is rated one of the top airlines so just an fyi.

 

[manning]

Just be happy my friend isn't at the controls. He's been known to drive off into the sunset on vacation with weak hoses, three quarts low on oil and a bald tire. Be glad the crew refuses to fly with an unsafe airplane.

Also it has been known in the industry for flights to be cancelled due to mechanical problems when in fact there wasn't enough passengers.

How committed are these guys on safety?? Back in '89 our flight to Hawaii (ua) was delayed for 2 hours because of a problem with an engine. I was standing next to the captain when they discovered the problem. The ground crew crawled all over that engine for 2 hours and couldn't find anything wrong with it. They even consulted with maintenance in San Francisco.

The problem was paper work. The previous crew reported a problem in the aircraft logbook. The new captain read the log and saw it was not logged off as fixed. When it was verified everything was safe, we pulled away from the gate. Talking to the captain later he said we could have flown safely but the rules were everything had to be working before takeoff. As he said 2,000 miles over water would be a long way on three engines (747).

 

[disney-super-mom]

I just thought it was odd that at least 50% of Alaska flights at the Seattle Airport was cancelled or severely delayed due to mechanical problems, all at the same time. I've never seen anything like it. Our flight to Spokane was cancelled, five minuets later a flight to Boise was cancelled, and then 4 flights going to various locations in California were delayed mulitiple times, and I'm not sure what eventually happened to those California flights.

Now all this happening just one time, on one day, I could maybe understand, but it happened both when we were flying down to Anaheim, and then back up to Spokane, and it only was happening at the Seattle airport (which I find interesting). There were no problems with any delays or cancellations for Alaska airlines at John Wayne International, or Spokane International. Just at Seattle...I'm still wondering if it's a staffing issue...maybe several people came down with the flu or something.

On the bright side, when Alaska finally got a plane to take us to Spokane, it was the fastest flight between Seattle and Spokane I've ever been on, about 30 minutes. They were bookin' and got us there fast (and then the flight was continuing on to it's original destination - New York City).

 

[Servants of Evan]

This is purely speculation here, but I'm wondering what the chances are that the Alaska Air maintainence staff/mechanics would be in the midst of a contract negotiation or are they currently working without a contract? If you're correct and over 50% of the aircraft had "issues" I can only wonder if the staffers are working in a "go slow" situation...

 

[becky_AK]

This thread was posted ages ago, but I just want to say that this is the norm for Alaska Airlines. As an Alaska resident & only having this airline to get me to & from my home, I have seen this happen so many times. They really need to improve their customer service & their fight delays because they are turning off a lot of potential passengers. If I had a choice to fly on another airline to travel back & for to Juneau and Seattle, I would in a heartbeat.

 

[1000th happy haunt]

Twice I booked the 12 noon flight on Southwest from PHL to MCO, and twice it was canceled because of "machanical problems." I eventually learned that flight gets canceled quite a bit (due to "mechanical problems") because there's a flight to MCO at 10:30am and another one at 1:00pm, and the 1:00pm flight is usually very empty. In fact, both times when I've checked in and learned my 12 noon flight was canceled, I've gotten an A boarding pass for the 1:00 flight.

So now I've learned to book the later flight to MCO. It usually puts me in rush hour traffic, but it's better than waiting around at the airport.