Seattle Airport Begins to Thaw for Alaska Travel

Alaskans normally shrug off the heaviest of snowstorms, but now they're suffering unusual inconvenience because of a few inches that fell more than 1,400 miles to the south.

Seattle boat

(Ed Freeman/The Image Bank/Getty Images)

Back-to-back snowstorms stranded thousands at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, the jumping-off point for most travel to Alaska and a vital airfreight hub to the Last Frontier.

Alaskans headed to the warmth of Hawaii and Mexico may stay cold, and those staying home may have to do without the southern relatives.

The heavy snow that fell on the Seattle area beginning Thursday forced Seattle-based Alaska Airlines, the major carrier to its namesake state, to cancel some 450 flights across the Western U.S. through Monday, affecting tens of thousands of people, airline spokesman Paul McElroy said.

Other carriers serving Sea-Tac likewise were forced to cancel or delay flights.

"This is a historic storm. That's the fallout," McElroy said.

Travel prospects improved Tuesday, as snowbound Seattle got a break in the weather and flights in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska were taking off as planned. But McElroy said the airline couldn't promise to make up all the backlog by Thursday.

"We know that there are some customers we will not be able to get to their destination by Christmas, and we certainly regret that," he said.

Holiday flights were already nearly full, so rebooking thousands of stranded travelers — both going to Alaska and leaving for warmer climates — was going slowly. McElroy said standby passengers were filling planes to capacity, and the airline had called in extra staff to try to soothe passengers as they waited.

Sea-Tac officials estimated up to 4,000 people spent Sunday night in the terminal, sleeping on chairs or the floor, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported. Alaska Airlines' problems were compounded when it ran low on aircraft deicing fluid after two trucks couldn't get over the Cascade Range and a rail shipment was stuck when railroad switches froze, McElroy told the newspaper.