Hundreds of flights canceled at PDX, Sea-Tac due to ice storm; impacts evident at Redmond Airport
(Update: Adding video, comments from Redmond Airport travelers)
REDMOND, Ore. (KTVZ) — Traveling is a great way to catch up with family and friends during the holiday season. But this year, weather woes across the region and nation have made for thousands of canceled or delayed flights, so it's been an even bigger challenge than usual.
Bobby Pontillas is visiting from California and explained his flight issues Friday at Redmond Airport.
"Actually, my flight was supposed to take off Friday around 1 p.m., and it got all canceled. All the flights to Seattle were canceled. So, I'll be here for the day and this time Saturday," he said.
Andrea Meyers is visiting from Connecticut and is having a different issue.
"I'm at the airport because I'm trying to get a status on my bags that have been missing for like two days," she said.
So far, the airport is not as congested as you might expect, but you should take into account that there are frustrations keeping many from taking to the skies as planned.
Because of Friday's ice storm, many flights into and out of Portland and Seattle were canceled, so be sure to check the status before you head to the airport.
Here's KGW's story:
Alaska Airlines and Horizon canceled all flights in and out of Portland International Airport (PDX) and Seattle Tacoma International Airport (SEA-TAC) until noon Friday due to an ice storm that arrived in Portland and the Pacific Northwest on Thursday night, KGW reported.
The airline said it has canceled more than 270 flights in and out of Portland and Seattle and will cancel or delay more flights if the weather doesn't improve. Alaska Airlines said airport runways at SEA-TAC are closed because of unsafe weather conditions.
The storms' travel impacts were evident Friday at Redmond Airport, where the flight status page showed four canceled Alaska and Delta flight arrivals from Seattle and San Francisco and a delayed United flight from Denver. There were also five canceled outbound flights as of late morning and one delayed.
NewsChannel 21's Kelsey McGee is visiting Redmond Airport to see how holiday travelers are faring amid the challenges. Her report is coming up at Five.
Alaska Airlines said there are flexible travel policies for travel to and from PDX and SEA-TAC due to the winter weather. Learn more about those policies here.
Despite the cancellations, which KGW's Evan Watson estimated at 80-85% of all flights — 265 flights in and out of PDX as of about 9:45 a.m. Friday — there were still a lot of flyers waiting in customer service lines Friday morning at United, Delta, American and Alaska, Watson reported. That included a family of 29 hoping to get to Hawaii. They told Watson they've been planning the trip for 4.5 years.
Before the ice storm even hit Portland Thursday evening, high winds in the area and severe winter weather elsewhere in the country prompted a round of flight delays and a few cancellations Thursday morning and afternoon at Portland International Airport.
The Portland airport's online arrivals and departures board showed a growing list of canceled and delayed flights over the course of the day that only grew overnight.
The cancellations and delays include flights to and from Denver, where a monster winter storm has grounded hundreds of flights, but they also cover a wide range of national and international destinations.
