Rock72

my family (2 adults 3 kids (2 of them infants)) went to maui last week for vacation. we booked round trip tickets BLI-OGG since that's a little cheaper than SEA-OGG and we live about 45 min north of seatac (so even though seatac is closer, BLI isn't terrible - it's a 1.5 hour drive).

we drove our car to BLI and parked there (parking is only like $10/day).

we flew back OGG->BLI on monday but just as we left the pilot got on the speaker and said that there was a small airplane accident in BLI so the airport was closed for traffic. he said that they expected it to be cleaned up in 1.5-2 hours and since we had 5+ hours to go on our flight, we should be ok by the time we get there.

well, when we got about an hour from landing, the pilot said that they cleaned up the airplane but it was too cold (24 degrees) so the runway was too icy and they couldn't de-ice the runway so the airport is closed and all flights are redirected to seatac.

the pilot and flight attendants said that they had no more information than that and that once we get off the plane we should go to the customer service desk.

after landing, we went to the customer service desk but as expected the line was really long. we spoke to an agent and she said that there's a flight tomorrow morning at 8:15am that they can book us on. it was around 10pm when we landed and about 11pm by the time we got through the long time and so we asked if they would do anything about lodging for the night. she said all she can do is book us on the flight tomorrow...no lodging, food, etc. basically we were expected to sleep in the airport terminal. this was not really an option with young kids, etc.

so since we have little infants and an elementary school child, we decided to take uber home and just deal with the situation.

so we did that. uber cost around $100 to get us home. the next day my wife got a friend to drive her to BLI (about a 1.5 hour drive) to get our car.

i emailed alaska airlines but heard nothing back (almost 2 days now). is it reasonable to expect anything from alaska in this type of situation? i'm hoping that they can give us some credit for future flights to help offset our costs as a result of the diversion.

i also heard later by talking to some other agents that there was a bus to BLI but it wasn't offered to passengers on our flight (not sure why). she said that an earlier flight that was diverted was getting on the bus. she didn't know why they didn't get a bus for us.

vgc

Strange. Alaska is usually pretty good about compensating for situations such as these. They're probably swamped currently because I bet everyone in not only your flight, but all the diverted flights was trying to deal with this.

flyupfrnt

They'll make you whole and then some. Email is generally the slowest response in the system. In this type of situation a little patience is best. Follow up if after 5 days you haven't heard back.

3ur0tr45h

They should take care of you, especially if you have any status. I have had them reimburse last minute one-way $300 rental cars for when their SEA-BLI flight goes belly up.

milesandmoremiles

they may offer you some sort of token compensation but by no means are obligated to offer you anything since this was not in any way an AS controllabe situation.

jsguyrus

They will not (and should not) compensate you for something that is out of their contol. This is no different than a flight cancelling for weather. Two weeks ago I flew EWR-SEA-YKM. On landing in Seattle I learned my flight to YKM (the last one of the day) was cancelled due to freezing rain. They rebooked my on the first flight the following day and I went to my hotwire app and got a nice $75 room across the street from the airport.

I guess it would have been great if AS provided the room but I would not expect it since they cant control the weather. Honestly, I have been in hotels provided by AS before on other cancellations....they are not the best.

notquiteaff

If you had been offered the bus to BLI, would you have taken that bus with your family (infant, elementary school kid) at that late hour after flying all the way from Hawaii just to get back to your car and then drive all the way back south to get home?

Similarly, would you really have preferred a night in an airport hotel fairly close to home?

I think your ultimate solution was better. I might have looked if a one way car rental to BLI would have been cheaper/more convenient (drive home that night, to BLI next day to get car).

Ultimately it wasn't AS's fault any more than it was yours that BLI was closed. They would have flown you to next day, as is their responsibility.

MSPeconomist

It wasn't the fault of AS so why would the OP expect compensation?

Uber was the choice made by the OP, but alternatively they might have been able to rent a car to drive home and then to BLI the next morning, where the rental vehicle could be returned and the OP's vehicle could have been driven home. I'm not sure whether this would have been cheaper or more convenient.

MSPeconomist

We seem to think alike. With exactly the same FT time stamp, your post appeared first, so you beat me by 0-60 seconds.

flytoeat

That's a pretty absolute statement. Plenty of anecdotal evidence to the contrary this winter. YMMV.

OP, I suggest a bit of patience for a response. They are absolutely overwhelmed and backed up several weeks.

dave1013

I can think of three times in the last 7 years when I was returning to JNU from SEA on the 69 flight that stops in KTN and got stranded there when the weather in JNU took sudden, unexpected dives. One of these times was when Ms. dave1013 and I were returning from Europe after a long day of flying. Insult to injury! AS didn't provide a dime of compensation to any of us, and as others have noted, they are not required to.

PS, if this ever happens to you, opt for The Landing. It's close to the airport ferry terminal and the beer in Jeremiah's is good and cold. On the other hand, they offer a confiscatory "distressed traveler" fare. It should be called a "distressed wallet" fare. LOL

jsguyrus

I say it forcefully because this has happened time and again this winter and cancellations have been my life. When it is mechanical AS is good about hotels and vouchers as well as some additional compensation. If it is weather, they will book you next flight and that is it.

If someone is getting comp hotels or compensation for weather of other act of god cancellations I think we would all like to know about it.

flytoeat

That's the anecdotal information I'm talking about. Perhaps some are more equal than others in that regard - a 75K will get better treatment than a one-off customer crediting to a partner. And perhaps when "weather" is used as an excuse, one pushes back a bit and is taken care of, possibly because of underlying crew or equipment shortages. I have done this a couple of times this long winter and have received accommodation, food vouchers, and future credits.

Rock72

I wasn't sure if it was relevant but I am Alaska MVP (so not great but it's not nothing).

I understand that it wasn't Alaska's fault and they really did not have any control over the situation. It would have been nice if they gave more info before we landed because the plane was full of confused people. AFAIK all flights to BLI were diverted to SEA that afternoon/evening so it was a number of flights.

If I had been offered the bus to BLI, I would have probably sent my wife home with the kids via uber and I would have taken the bus to BLI and driven our van back. I would not have expected any compensation in that case since they are offering a way for us to get to BLI.

It was around 11pm so it seemed a bit late to try to book a rental car one way, etc. I know rental car companies open late but I suspect that BLI rental car companies don't see the kind of traffic that SEA does so I don't know if they would have been open at 1am (when I would have arrived into BLI), etc.

I'll update the thread if I hear back from Alaska. I was just hoping they would give some type of token credit or something for the inconvenience. I have been flying Alaska almost every week this year (short flights though) so I'm just about re-qualified for MVP again and if this keeps up, I'll hit MVP 50 or MVP 75 this year.

Baze

But they did offer you a way to get to BLI, a flight the next morning.