Summary A recent Alaska Airlines flight was canceled and rescheduled due to an aircraft maintenance issue. The pilot of the aircraft claimed that a door allegedly opened during a previous flight, leading to necessary repairs. The aircraft has since been diverted twice more since the incident, but Alaska has not provided details on the aircraft's maintenance issues.
Around 100 Alaska Airlines passengers were stranded in Fresno, California, last week after a Boeing 737-900ER could not operate a flight to Seattle due to “a standard maintenance issue.” The impacted and understandably frustrated travelers had to wait nearly 24 hours until the aircraft was fixed. One of the passengers claimed the pilot alleged the plane could not operate because a door flung open twice during the inbound flight to Fresno.
Alaska has maintained that the issue was unrelated to the aircraft’s doors, but flight data indicates it has experienced subsequent problems since the incident. Delayed..
. then canceled According to FlightAware , AS1051 was scheduled to operate from Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FAT) to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) on Thursday. The flight had an original departure time of 16:45, but was delayed nearly four hours to a 20:00 departure time, and then subsequently canceled.
Lynn Whitesides and Jaime Holt were among the passengers booked on the flight, according to Fresno local FOX affiliate KMPH . They received notifications that their flight was delayed every 30 to 45 minutes before it was canceled. Holt said an Alaska agent notified them that the flight was going to be rescheduled to Friday since a replacement aircraft would be needed.
"Sorry, your flight has been cancelled but I hear we're sending a new plane down and you'll have a plane ready to go at 9:00 am on Friday morning to get you all probably close to 100 people that were here last night up to Seattle.” "Given Alaska's history with things flying off the plane" However, when they returned to FAT on Friday morning, no replacement aircraft was available, and the original aircraft was still not ready to fly. Holt mentioned that the airline said it was still waiting for a part to arrive to repair the 737.
At around noon, one of the pilots provided an update to the stranded passengers. The carrier discovered the likely spoiled fish more than 24 hours after the aircraft landed. According to Whitesides, the pilot announced over the intercom in the terminal that the aircraft experienced complications during its inbound flight from SEA on Thursday.
The pilot allegedly said a door had flown open twice during the flight. Whitesides went on to mention that the pilot explained that they wanted to ensure the issue was fixed, given the airline’s unfortunate history . ".
..given Alaska's history with things flying off the plane, they wanted to make sure that this would not happen and was corrected properly before we departed Fresno to Seattle again.
” Simple Flying contacted Alaska about the incident, and the carrier said on Monday the aircraft’s maintenance issue had nothing to do with its doors. “This was a standard maintenance issue on the aircraft at FAT which required a little more time to track down the right replacement part,” a spokesperson stated on Monday. “It was not related to doors on the plane.
” Flight data shows that the aircraft is registered as N237AK. According to ch-aviation , it is an eight-year-old 737-900ER. The plane was subsequently repaired and finally flew to SEA as AS9201 on Friday, arriving around 15:00.
If the aircraft indeed experienced door issues, it was likely to be the cockpit or lavatory doors – an ajar cockpit door during flight poses a major security threat . External door issues would likely result in the aircraft being grounded for much longer. Whitesides explained they were grateful that Alaska prioritized fixing the aircraft, but said the airline should have had alternate plans in place.
“We are very happy that they made the delays to fix our airplanes so we didn't fly unsafely, but there should be backup plans in place to prevent this from happening and to causing all sorts of undue stress on their passengers." Further complications with the aircraft N237AK then operated as normal, flying a Salt Lake City turn on Friday. On Saturday, the aircraft flew to Phoenix and was then scheduled to fly to Portland as AS751.
However, flight data shows that the aircraft flew to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) instead for an unknown reason. It remained at LAX for the rest of the day. On Sunday, the aircraft operated as AS1219 from LAX to SEA, but was diverted.
It took off at 11:24 and leveled off at 25,000 feet about 15 minutes later. The aircraft then turned around and began to descend. It landed back at LAX at 12:11, and will remain out of service until Wednesday, according to FlightAware.
Alaska would not respond to Simple Flying’s request for comment about the status of the aircraft or the reasons behind the diversions to LAX on Saturday and Sunday. Live animals were allegedly inside the cargo hold during the flight..
