Thursday, Nov. 13 – 10:45 a.m. Pacific Time
As the federal government shutdown comes to an end, Alaska Airlines welcomes this important step toward restoring normalcy for our guests, employees and the communities we serve. We are in close contact with the Federal Aviation Administration and are prepared to resume our full schedule as soon as the FAA lifts the order and it is safe to do so.
Our teams have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure we can ramp up operations quickly and efficiently. We extend our deepest gratitude to our employees for their extraordinary dedication and professionalism during this challenging period. Their resilience and commitment have been the backbone of our operation. We also thank our guests for their patience, understanding and continued trust as we worked through these unprecedented disruptions together.
As we move forward, we encourage all travelers to check the latest updates on their flights via our website and app. We remain committed to transparent communication and will provide timely information as we restore our schedule.
Friday, Nov. 7 – 3:40 p.m. Pacific Time
We have received and are complying with the FAA’s order to reduce flight operations at 40 domestic airports while doing everything possible to minimize disruptions for our guests.
We are still operating more than 1,500 flights each day, and to date, 100% of guests impacted by these FAA-mandated cancellations for Friday, Nov. 7, and Saturday, Nov. 8 have been rebooked on new flights to their destinations. If a guest has not received communication from Alaska or Hawaiian about their Friday or Saturday flight, it has not been impacted by the FAA mandate.
Our goal is to comply with the order while maintaining the highest possible schedule reliability. The specific routes affected may vary from day to day as we continue applying our approach of prioritizing high-frequency routes to minimize disruption for our guests. We remain fully committed to maintaining air service to every community we serve.
We expect to cancel roughly 36-40 flights each day through Sunday, Nov. 9. Guests will continue to receive communication and rebooking options from Alaska or Hawaiian if they have an impacted flight. A flexible travel policy remains in effect for guests looking to adjust their own travel. Details can be found at alaskaair.com and hawaiianairlines.com.
We deeply appreciate our guests’ patience and understanding as we work to minimize disruptions caused by these cancellations. We are also sincerely grateful to the air traffic controllers and TSA and CBP officers who continue to ensure the safety and functioning of air travel despite not receiving pay. We strongly urge our federal leaders to reach an immediate resolution to end the shutdown.
We will continue to keep our guests informed of any further updates or schedule adjustments.
Thursday, Nov. 6 – 1:15 p.m. Pacific Time
In light of ATC staffing shortages due to the ongoing government shutdown, the FAA has directed U.S. airlines to reduce flights at 40 domestic airports. We have assessed our schedule and begun canceling a limited number of flights effective Friday, November 7. The FAA’s directive is expected to remain in place until further guidance is issued and the shutdown concludes. International flying is not expected to be impacted.
We are sorry for this unexpected disruption. We know that when guests book their travel with Alaska and Hawaiian, they are trusting us to get them to their destination safely, on time and with the care both our brands are known for. As we assessed the FAA’s directive and our schedule, we worked to ensure smaller and remote communities that are reliant upon air travel are protected. Most of our cancellations are on routes with a higher frequency of flights, allowing most guests to be reaccommodated with as little disruption as possible.
Guests whose flights are canceled will be reaccommodated on other flights as available or offered a full refund. Those whose flights are impacted will receive communication directly from Alaska and Hawaiian. We have also issued a flexible travel policy that allows guests to adjust their travel during this uncertain time. We encourage all guests to check the status of their flights on the Alaska or Hawaiian app or our websites alaskaair.com and hawaiianairlines.com to utilize self-service rebooking options.
We remain grateful to every air traffic controller and TSA or CBP officer who is working without pay to keep air travel functioning safely. We continue to strongly urge our federal leaders to reach an immediate resolution and end the shutdown.