Massive number of diversions of flights headed into SEA on Saturday evening, August 17. I was on Delta 1214, ORD-SEA, diverted to Portland. Reason was thunderstorms that took a very long time to make their way through the area. Summer thunderstorms are uncommon in the Pacific Northwest; normally when we get thunder, it is in the winter, and it is more rumbles and murmurs as opposed to the sort of flash-bang lightning we had last night, which reminded me of my Midwestern roots.

We landed at PDX and pulled into a gate. Passengers remained on board. Our pilots had timed out but somehow Delta has two relief pilots who were able to fly us up to Seattle. SO after an hour on the ground, we left PDX for the short hop up to SEA. On my flight, there were several dozen "lucky" passengers whose final destination was PDX. They were allowed to deplane at PDX and go on their way, though those with checked bags were instructed to return to the airport the next day to claim their baggage.

One of the pilots happened to mention that Spokane had maxed out on the number of diversions it could receive.

SEA baggage claim was a total zoo when all those diverted flights started to arrive post-midnight. Arrivals monitors were not displaying carousel numbers. I waited 45 minutes for my checked bag. Things were getting heated at the adjacent carousel serving UAL, where hundreds of passengers were assembled waiting for baggage that just was not coming.