mbluecpa

An AS official was quoted in a local news outlet today saying “they” (AS, I assume, and not SEA) only have space to de-ice four aircraft at a time. Deicing capacity has been talked for a while as a major bottleneck but I’d not previously heard that number.

jrl767

from what I understand, there is a deicing stand by the AS maint hangar south of the S satellite and another by the north cargo area; each can accommodate four aircraft at a time

I’m not sure if the airport allows deicing at all gates (limited infrastructure to collect fluid runoff)

PDXpress

All three evening SEA-MFR flights took long delays and eventually canceled last night. I am very lucky to have got myself rebooked on the only option through PDX, and avoided SEA. The lesson, as always, is don't fly into a snowstorm if there is any way to avoid it.

ftmsb

Given similar forecasts for PDX and SEA on Friday, is there a reason to think PDX would handle the storm better with fewer chances of cancellations or it is rolling the dice with either? I'm certianly familiar with and have sat through the deicing delays at SEA, but have also been stuck elsewhere when PDX shut down for an ice storm. I have a much less convenient (but avaibale) option to route through PDX instead of SEA, and am wondering whether it makes sense to change or if, assuming both airports get the same weather, the chances of delay or cancellation are the same at both.

scklumb

Sorry for the off topic. but a lot of this thread centers around flights leaving SEA and having to wait to de-ice. My question is about a flight coming into a snow infested airport. If the runway, gate, and taxi lanes are regularly plowed are flights allowed to land? My flight is SEA-MKE on Thursday (22nd) MKE is supposed to get 10" of snow, starting at 2pm ending around midnight. Now MKE handles snow very well, AS has a dedicated gate at MKE, so no need to wait for a gate if other aircraft are stuck. The single MKE flight, AS366, arrives around 4:45pm and leaves around 5:45pm.

Basically, how are flights handled when landing in a snowstorm? Is landing easier to do, than all the processes (mainly de-icing) for takeoff?

notquiteaff

Seems to me your flight to MKE has to not only deal with the weather in MKE, but still has to deal with SEA limitations to be able to depart. And the aircraft has to arrive from somewhere into SEA. Not sure how likely it is that anyone can really predict that your flight will happen as scheduled at this time. Good luck! I am glad I only have to do a 400+ mile road trip this holiday weekend.

scklumb

OH they will need to deal with weather in MKE, we are supposed to get 10" over a span of about 10 hours. If flight leaves SEA ontime tomorrow, which it should (todays flight is ontime). Comes back to my question... during a snowstorm are incoming flights easier than outgoing flights?

WrLdTrvLnIndian

Got an international flight out of SEA on Friday 12/23, I am in PDX, my contingency plan is to drive up to Seatac with a car rental from PDX, to not miss the flight especially since my PDX-SEA (positioning flight) was purchased separately.
Question is should I wait or just get AS to give me travel credit for my flight and just plan to drive myself up, so i am in control and make sure i get myself to SEA. Thoughts?

Raymoland

Planning to drive PDX-SEA in an ice storm? Hmm, may not be the wisest idea unless you complete the journey before the storm begins.

As for landing in snow, you don't have to drive so as long as airport operations can keep runways and taxiways clear it should be ok. The problem invariably is gate space. Don't be surprised to find the AS gate occupied with some other airlines airplane...

Xrayman

My flight SEA to MKe was cancelled on Sunday December 18. No snow no rain. Not sure why and doesn’t really matter to me now. Notified evening prior around 7 pm. Lucky was able to call in and get alternate flight to ORD then drove to MKE. Apparently flights to ORD were still good to go. Interesting but earlier in the week was offered “$95 opportunity if flexible and would reschedule to the following day Monday”

WrLdTrvLnIndian

I understand, but missing flight in SEA is also not an option. Since my dep from SEA is 420p, I planned driving as early as i can on Friday (maybe 9AM) from home in Portland, getting an SUV for rental and giving my self plenty of time to take it easy and get there, again this is contingency plan, and will decide how tomorrow pans out to see if I should plan to or not.

Currently my 11AM departure from PDX gets me into SEA at 12pm, with plenty of time padded to make my 420p. My concern is if that gets delayed or cancelled I am going to put myself in a situation of missing my SEA-DOH flight. Should i try and change to as early of a flight as i can to give me more padding?

jiburi

With freezing rain forecasted Thursday to Friday, worst is still yet to come.

Travel safe

Jiburi

tatia

WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM THURSDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH FRIDAY EVENING...

WHAT...Heavy mixed precipitation possible.
Total snow accumulations of up to three inches and ice accumulations of up to a quarter of an inch possible.

notquiteaff

If it was me and I had to be on that international flight, given the weather forecasts I have seen I would probably already be sitting in a warm hotel room at SeaTac.

Good luck and safe travels!

Also note that having a reservation doesn’t guarantee a rental car is available… especially when air travel is seeing a lot of cancellations.

PDXpress

PDX has the same snow troubles that SEA does. Tuesday was special in that SEA got snow and PDX got rain, so it was okay. Friday is shaping up to be the reverse, with PDX colder than SEA. Friday's going to be bad everywhere, but SEA might actually be the better bet.

Remind me I said that when I'm stuck at SEA Friday night.