US Storm Hits Travel in Northwest

On Wednesday, Alaska Airlines continued cancelling flights and warned that weather in the Northwest of the country could mean more operations would be disrupted. Both the carrier and Horizon Air handle over 50% of the passenger traffic that goes through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. At least 38 of their Seattle-Portland services for Wednesday were cancelled on Tuesday, and then they had to cancel a further nine by mid-morning, warning that more could be on the way.

Alaska Airlines said on its Facebook page that they were working to minimise the impact of the storm on their remaining flights, but delays would be likely. Customers on both airlines were advised to check their websites for service updates before going to the airport. Passengers with plans to fly in or out of Seattle, Portland or other affected cities are able to rebook without being charged a fee or they can apply for a full refund for the unused leg of their ticket. There are restrictions that apply, however.

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport officials said crews were keeping up with the accumulation of snow on the airfield and that runways were open for operation. However, some services were still affected due to shortages of airline crew or other things. Sometimes airlines will cancel flights ahead of time so they aren’t penalised for planes sitting on the tarmac for more than three hours. The airport’s website also showed that another 20 flights were cancelled by other airlines on Wednesday, including a nonstop service on Lufthansa from Seattle to Frankfurt, Germany.

Due to the snow and some passengers being stranded, many hotels in Seattle were taking advantage of the opportunity for business by offering specials. Some of the discounts included $99 per night rooms at Mayflower Park Hotel, Watertown Hotel, University Inn, Maxwell Hotel and Hotel Five.

Meanwhile, the storm made for rough driving conditions on roads. On Wednesday morning, State Trooper Guy Gill told reporters that, in Thurston and Pierce counties, there were 95 accident reported within eight hours of each other. Most of the incidents were spinouts. His advice to motorists was to pick part of the road that has been driven on already and stick to it. Getting off the beaten path will only result in trouble. This is the first time in his career that he’s had to put chains on his car, so drivers should stay in the path laid down on freeways.

National Weather Service meteorologist Brad Colman said on Wednesday that Olympia, the Washington state capital, had been hit with about 12 inches of snow by 7:30am and that the city would break its 14 inches record in 24 hours. Areas south of the city were expected to get 20 inches. Colman added that the area was getting slammed.