I was originally scheduled to fly on Virgin America nonstop at 9:40 on Friday morning from SFO to Newark, a route I have flown with them in the past. Before heading to bed the night before, I noticed some earlier NYC flights from both SFO and LAX had been cancelled, and oddly noticed my flight was zeroed out, though the seating chart showed at least 25-30 open seats. Called Alaska to see if it was cancelled, but agent assured me it was still on the schedule.

Woke up at 1a.m. and checked again. Flight cancelled.

When this happened with me at AA, as a top tier flyer, they'd automatically have the computer assign me a new flight and text message me that this procedure was underway or completed. Not a word from Virgin or Alaska and no changes to my flight schedule on line.

Called in and spoke with an agent in Seattle, Was offered an overnight NYC flight on Virgin or an Alaska flight to Seattle, connecting to the 3:50p.m. Alaska flight to Newark. I took her up on the second option. As I only had an 80 min connection in Seattle, and late morning rain was expected at SFO, made my way to the airport and took the 9:30a.m. Alaska flight to Seattle instead. Checked in at the gate in the middle of boarding (wasn't sure I'd make this flight in time or would have changed in advance).

On arrival in Seattle used one of my comped Alaska lounge passes in terminal C (Priority Pass not being accepted, though it was later when I exited). Spent about 3 hours there.





Checked Expert Flyer and noticed my flight was pushed back 5 mins and also that a decision would be made by that time if we would be going due to winds in Newark. About an hour before departure that changed to "on time" which eliminated a lot of stress.

While in the lounge, I spoke with an Alaska agent in Phoenix and asked if I could be protected on the overnight flight which still had seats, She had to check with some other agents and advised me Alaska does not double book and could not offer me that (I had last used it with AA a year ago when my SFO-LAX was running late and I might have misconnected to the last AA London flight of the night - AA told me I was protected on the BA nonstop if I would misconnect). I could have elected to move to the overnight Newark flight right then and there, and it did have open seats, but wasn't ready to make that jump yet. Not a lot of experience with this over the years, but know to ask for it when it looks like they'll be a flight issue.







On boarding, the pilot told us to expect a rough ride, that there were currently 35mph winds in Newark, and that our alternate airport was Pittsburgh. I think this was the first time ever that I've been on a flight that the pilot shared the diversion airport with the passengers prior to actually heading there (I've had prior diversions with other carriers to Des Moines and Stewart Field over the years, but we only learned about those when actually flying to them). Happily, I can report that we did not need to divert, and although it was a bumpy ride the last 15 minutes of descent, we safely landed and walked into a vacant terminal at Newark Airport.

Made my way by 62 bus to the 1:05am PATH train to World Trade Center, and was safely at my lower Manhattan hotel at 2a.m.