Just had a nice air tour. Was flying PDX-SEA just now as part of today's HNL-PDX-SEA-YVR booking. We took off from PDX a few minutes late at around 9:40pm and the pilot said we left late due to SEA being down a runway due to construction. Got about 3\4 way to SEA when we turned around. Pilot said the entire airport at SEA was closed due to thunder and lightning and it would be closed for at least an hour. As we didn't have enough fuel for an hour, we headed back to PDX.
GA boarded and said everyone should stay on as we were going to refuel and try again but I got off as I had missed the last SEA-YVR flight anyway and I figured I'd have better luck with a hotel in PDX since there were probably a lot of stranded pax in SEA. She said no hotels would be given either in PDX or SEA as it was weather-related. Fair enough. There were three guys on my flight who were going on to ANC so they were going to be stuck as well. Strangely, I was the only one who disembarked - everyone else stayed on.
What I didn't know was that there are no airside AS customer service desks in PDX. It was now 11:05pm and the Boardroom had just closed and I didn't want to go landside in case there was no one there, so the lovely BR lady pointed me to a gate. An awesome GA and a supervisor were there, got me rebooked for tomorrow and gave me a hotel. I didn't ask for one, the supervisor just printed off a voucher while I was getting rebooked. Talk about great service. I'll definitely be writing in about them. I'm a bit concerned as they couldn't FIM my ticket over to the new booking but he printed off the coupon and attached it to the BP. Hopefully that will do the trick.
It is now just after midnight and I am happily ensconced in the La Quinta, courtesy of the great AS staff. When I left the airport, SEA was still closed so definitely made the right call by disembarking when I had the chance. Now just have to call in for ORC. I'm booked direct PDX-YVR tomorrow and I want that extra segment and 500 miles.
Seriously though, great service from AS tonight. Just reaffirms why I am so loyal to them.