Originally Posted by WebTraveler

I disagree. This is clearly a mess. There are passengers on that plane that Alaska lost forever on this ill-fated flight. It was not the flight itself that pushed them away, but the response by Alaska too it. The Captain and crew are the ONLY Alaska employees on site and they owe it - as company representatives - to make sure every passenger is settled and okay before departing, period. Customer service and the response to a crisis is more important than the crisis itself. Good employees rise above and deal with a company crisis and be a leader. That's how life works.

I disagree on the pilot and hours. Who cares? Maintenance staff and pilots flew the affected plane to a maintenance base after deeming it worthy to do so. The existing flight crew was likely tied up with the maintenance crew reviewing the entire issue while they initially probed.. The new aircraft flown in had different pilots. The original plane pilots and crew were done, pending internal and potentially FAA inquiry into the incident. That flight crew is not going back into the air until reviews and reports are filed and they are deemed fit for duty. Medical tests and the whole nine yards. That's standard after every incident. The airline and FAA need to be reasonably sure there was no pilot error or something else that led to this incident. In this case it's probably not going to take every long. The airline and potentially FAA will review the plane to see if maybe the cause is related to some pilot error, and when done they'll be returned to active duty.