LesBesTes

Was scheduled to fly Alaska's flight 828 from Kona to Oakland at 3:35 pm on Saturday, July 14. After what we thought was going to be a short 20-30 minute delay, the ground crew came over the loudspeaker to announce that the crew was running late and that we would have updates coming soon. The announcement was sufficiently vague that I got a little worried that something epic was up.

A few minutes later, the real details were shared - the flight crew had been traveling in a shuttle to the airport together and some sort of extinguisher was inadvertently triggered. There was enough of a medical concern that the Alaska insisted that the entire crew be transported to the Kona hospital for chest xrays and medical evaluation. No idea how long the delay would be so they started handing out meal vouchers. Initially, we thought that we might just be delayed a few hours, but it soon became clear that the flight might not go on Saturday at all.

I have to saw the the ground crew was super-friendly and efficient under the circumstances. Given that this was Alaska Airlines and a Hawaii flight at that, there were not a lot of frequent flyers on board. I immediately grabbed an agent when it became clear that the delay would be significant and asked to be backed up on the United redeye flight leaving from KOA to SFO later that night. She acted quickly and was happy to make the accommodation. I was traveling with my parents, husband, and three year old, so we really wanted to get out asap. The United SFO flight wasn't very full, so I started sharing that info with fellow passengers who were going back to the Bay Area as a final destination and several of them were backed up as well.

Flight was eventually cancelled about an hour later, with an indication that it would be replaced with a new flight 23 hours later (Alaska only flies that route once a day, so there was no room to accommodate our entire plane on other scheduled flights). Most of the passengers got hotel vouchers and were reasonably okay with spending another night in Hawaii. It certainly helped that this was a Saturday flight and most people presumably did not have to be at work the next day and could survive a full day flight delay. As for me, I managed to get out on the United flight to SFO, tired and battered with a cranky three year old. But we did pretty well under the circumstances. The United redeye was far from full, so apparently a lot of our fellow passengers either didn't know about this flight or were happy to take a full day delay.

I rarely fly Alaska, but the whole experience does make me somewhat less likely to fly this flight again to and from KOA (I've always flown United on the KOA to SFO route, so this was an experiment). This time around, I happened to be lucky that I got a gate agent who helped me out and that the United flight happened to have enough seats to accommodate our group when things went wrong. But given Alaska's low frequency of flights and the unavailability of a replacement crew for a full day, I'd be concerned in the future about being stranded by Alaska. At least United would have had options for me to connect in LAX or HNL if necessary when things went this wrong. And presumably they would have had more backup crew in the area to call upon, which would not have necessitated a 23 hour flight delay in the first place. Curious to hear the thoughts of others on this...

All in all an interesting flight delay. Grateful that I've been lurking on Flyertalk long enough to know to be proactive in this situation and get myself home!

dgreen12

It happens to all the airlines, every now and then. Here's UA's latest snafu:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...-days-pvg.html

Looks like it was the last AS flight out of KOA that day. Which makes it more difficult to get put onto an SJC or PDX or SEA alternative AS flight.

I'm glad they were able to move you to the UA flight.

SFO777

Why? Because AS insisted on putting the safety of 100+ pax before an on time departure? There are not a lot of airports between KOA and the mainland. Sorry, but I would want to fly an airline that did exactly what AS did.

LesBesTes

No, not at all. My point was simply that the small size of the airline and their even smaller presence in the Hawaiian market makes them less likely to have alternatives available to their passengers when things go wrong. Given that this is Alaska's last flight of the day out of Kona to ANY destination (as opposed to other airlines who have redeyes to LAX and SFO and the like), it is a risky flight to take. Other airlines with larger flight choices in this market might have been able to get a replacement crew there more quickly.

SFO777

Just because UA has more flights including red-eyes to both LAX and SFO doesn't mean they have extra crews sitting on the beach at Waikoloa, or even Waikiki for that matter, waiting for a gig. Still not sure what your concern is. You were accommodated on other flights, which is exactly what UA, AA or DL would have done.

hawaii-bound

+1 - ^ - Alaska Air has been consistently better than any other airline for accommodating passengers when a problem arises. Pretty much you are SOL when there is a problem in Kona as there are only a set amount of flights in/out and the crews are either on a turnaround or an overnight but there are never any extra crews or aircraft available from this location.

LesBesTes

Good to know, since I don't fly to this destination that often... and I've certainly never been in a situation where it took 23 hours to obtain replacement crew anywhere else (UA's three day China meltdown referenced above notwithstanding). I suppose this could be more of a destination issue and than an airline one, then.

As I said, Alaska's ground crew was amazing under the circumstances. They did distribute forms for compensation, so we'll see what is offered. I went with the voucher choice rather than miles, since I don't have an Alaska mileage account (elect to accrue on AA or DL instead, which was not an option). Going to have to call to get the bag fees refunded.

HiFlyerAS

Sounds like the ground crew did a great job under the circumstances. Having a flight cancel in a city where there aren't a lot of rebooking options (or crews stationed) is a major headache for all concerned. It sounds like basically a happy ending. Hope the crew on that van was okay...a freak occurance to be sure!

jackal

Yes, they were--especially since they weren't employed by Alaska. (AS contracts out their Hawaiian station operations--I think KOA is actually operated by UA, although it might be DL.)

In other words, you'd likely get the same type of treatment from those same agents if you were flying the airline that employs them.

LesBesTes

Well, that's quite an interesting fact. Perhaps that is why the agent who helped me was so easily able to re-book me on UA! ;-) I have a feeling ground crews of all sorts are probably happier in Hawaii across the board though.

One thing I might add - it might have been nice if the ground crew had mentioned the UA redeye flight as an alternative to other passengers. As I said above, there were not a lot of frequent flyers on this flight, and I don't think it occurred to a lot of people to ask about or insist on other airlines. Everyone just seemed to stand in line for their hotel voucher and not ask questions. The UA flight clearly had more room and there might have been some other groups who would have preferred to get home earlier. Again, this wasn't required and I certainly spread the word myself to those that I could. This just goes to show that you have to be proactive as a passenger these days and advocate for yourself.

Certainly hope the crew was okay... would love to hear a followup as to what really happened. We happened to have a number of physicians on the flight (one of whom was my father who is a radiologist as well as another radiologist), and they indicated that the chest xrays would be a weird and unnecessary procedure to do for a fire extinguisher going off. There was some speculation that the extinguisher was not a regular fire extinguisher perhaps, but who knows. Sure hope this wasn't all in vain, medically-speaking! Hard to armchair quarterback these things though - the story inevitably is changed when retold so many times.

jackal

Probably so. I even had two highly jovial US Airways agents in HNL once! Although that could be because US contracts with HA in HNL and they were HA agents.

baliktad

Perhaps many others were quite happy to spend an extra night in paradise on someone else’s dime. There are worse places to be held captive than a lush tropical island in the middle of the Pacific.

tusphotog

Many years ago I had a flight get delayed in PDX because the crew was stuck in traffic. A lima bean truck overturned and spilled 30,000 pounds of lima beans on the freeway.

Anyway, glad the OP made it home without too much of a delay, although there are worse places to be stuck than Kona.

beckoa

^^

Wonder what property AS put them up in?

dc333

One of the AS contracted rates used to be at the King Kam though I'm sure they've got multiple options ready. Oh hey, it's now Courtyard branded, I learned something new today . I last stayed there during the renovation maybe 2009-2010.