pokee

Not sure if anyone else is flying AS for the upcoming eclipse?

I'll be flying BLI - PDX on AS. Could've driven, but figured I'd save myself the 12 hours of driving and traffic hassles, and instead use AS points I had sitting around and then rent a car at PDX.

Ugh...best laid plans. PDX is sold out of rental cars - and in fact, some companies like Hertz overbooked and just started cancelling peoples reservations! I have a Hertz rental reservation - so I could be next!

I'm considering cancelling our flights - but it's $125 x 2 in fees to get the points re-deposited. But maybe I should not bother with the fees and I should just forfeit the points? Driving would help to avoid the car rental risk and mayhem, but not sure if I should at this point if my car reservation is intact by the time I leave. My car reservation is only $200 - but I could see them not honoring discounts, too - considering the demand for cars. I've heard stories of gouging!

All of this also got me thinking about one thing I didn't really consider: the airport mayhem at PDX - they're now expecting over a million people in the area during the eclipse. Now I'm getting concerned about flying!

Do you think I should just roll the dice and fly? I mean, it will be an adventure, that's for sure!!! If I did cancel my flights, do you know if AS has ever waived the cancellation fees for unique circumstances? I know it's a stretch, but I don't have any experience cancelling an AS flight and wondered how strict they were.

rustykettel

If you do decide to cancel your flight, just hold off until right before scheduled departure. With the way QX operations are going, you may luck out with a cancellation or schedule change and be able to cancel without penalty.

cragAK

I'm arriving ANC-PDX Sunday morning. The plan was to take the train around town all day Sunday with a night cap being the MLS game, but then they changed the schedule on that... Hotel were way too expensive to add two extra nights on top of the ticket change fee.

Taking an Uber into Vancouver WA to get a rental car one day early instead :\

I'm kinda excited to see how crazy everything gets.

tusphotog

Look at National. I was able to get a car that weekend a day or two ago. It'd be good to have a backup. Expect that the airport will be a mess after it's over, and to sit in traffic (it's Portland...the traffic is awful on a good day). We keep hearing this will be the January snowstorm traffic only worse, where people were in their cars for seven hours or more. Don't go to the coast--there's limited routes in and out. Don't come to where I'm going either. I don't want traffic there.

I'd definitely fly though. If you're really stuck and traffic is a complete nightmare, you can at least see 99% from Portland (take MAX downtown), and you'll at least get the shadow. You won't get the full effect, but still better than what you'd get in Bellingham.

ddavault

I'm in Salem, ground zero. Places are gearing up around here for the madness. I know a lot of businesses will be closed and the hospital will be in disaster mode. They are adding triage tents and requiring some staff to sleep at the hospital. The real worry is with all the traffic emergency responders may not be able to get to where they need to go.

I did see that Hertz was in damage control mode on the rate increases and cancellations and that they were trying to get additional cars into the area. And Uber, not Lyft, just started service in Salem, so that could be an option too.

In Salem Enterprise has 2 good sized offices and Budget has one a the airport, which has no scheduled service, but if you take the Hut Shuttle from PDX this is where it lets you off.

I'll be spending the morning at Trinity Vineyards, which I can reach from my house using back roads. A lot of the vineyards around the area are doing special events.

The state attorney general just fined a bunch of hotels for unfair business practices for raising rates and canceling reservations. If this happens to you I would file a complaint.

https://justice.oregon.gov/consumerc...mplaintForm/en

http://www.opb.org/news/series/solar...rease-refunds/

Chugach

Another option might be Amtrak.

There is serious worry in eastern Oregon of people starting wildfires on accident because they don't know any better.

apodo77

Traffic is going to be a parking lot on I-5.
Wouldn't be surprised if many missed the total eclipse sitting in their car.

Eastbay1K

I'm flying in Sunday AM and hope to be in my Hertzmobile by 1030a (if they haven't given it away). I hope to get to my Roachmotel in SLE before they give my room to someone else (I even comped status into the Roachmotel program so I'd be less likely to get walked). I then am leaving PDX Monday after 6pm, and plan to leave SLE as soon as the sun is coming back out.

Idaho Territory

Change your destination to eastward. Fly into SLC and head to Jackson, craters of the moon. Or fly into Sun Valley. Realistcly there will still be a lot of forest fire smoke that will block optimal viewing.

jinglish

Even without the smoke, there's a chance that Salem will have a marine layer in the morning.

beckoa

I'm on AS146 ANC-SEA 12:35 AM followed by AS2545 SEA-PDX and AS3382 PDX-MCI the 20th.

It's going to be a zoo...but fun.

I return the 22nd.

azepine00

I suspect this is shaping up to be y2k like silliness - more hype and gloom and doom forecasts than reality. Rental cars are often doublebooked so i bet some availability will open up and there are local stations that can provide extra. Arrival capacity is limited by normal airline operations so a million folks are not gonna suddenly land in pdx.
Traffic jams are certainly a possibility so plan accordingly but it shoudnt be all that hard to scatter across rather wide area..

sdsearch

Ouch! Consider that a lot of people might be leaving Salem (SLE) for Portland around the same time, since a lot people who live in Portland are likely to come south for just the event and want to get back home afterwards. So roads between SLE and PDX might be a crawl !

Eastbay1K

Yes, but what choice is there? Wait until later and it might even be worse?

sdsearch

I'm not sure what you mean by "scatter across [a] rather wide area". Not far east of Salem (around Detroit OR) you get into the mountains through which the very long two-lane roads can be creepy-crawly at any time (no eclipse needed). Add an eclipse on top of that, especially if the weather gets iffy in Salem? Ouch! So the area that's wide (whole width of Oregon) is not necessarily so easy to scatter across (at the latitude of the eclipse path).

As to people flying in: Don't forget how close (by car) SEA is to PDX. So I bet a lot of people will also fly to SEA. And you're don't forget that some people are arriving the day before, some two days before, some three days before, some four days before, etc. (Only people who are too crazy to account for traffic would try to arrive day of, unless they're flying straight to SLE.) Plus people will drive in from the whole SEA area as well as the PDX area.