UPDATE!!..Alaska Air flying to Denver

[FireCat]

Alaska Airlines will not be flying in or out of Denver until at least noon Friday. The airport closed about 3 p.m. Wednesday because of a blizzard and announced this morning that it will not reopen until at least midday Friday after two feet of snow fell overnight. Alaska will resume operations out of Denver as soon as the airport reopens.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Alaska canceled 16 flights between Seattle and Denver and eight between Portland and Denver. To accommodate passengers who are trying to travel to or from Denver, Alaska has added two extra flights on Friday afternoon, in addition to the regular flights scheduled, assuming the airport has reopened. Passengers should check alaskaair.com or call 800-ALASKAAIR to check the status of their flight. Passengers who choose not to travel and cannot be re-accommodated will be issued full refunds without penalty.

About 4,000 travelers and airport workers were stranded at the Denver International Airport overnight after roads leading to the airport were closed, according to The Denver Post. The main road to the airport has since reopened, but is snowy and icy, according to the airport Web site.

All five Alaska Airlines employees were able to leave before the closure, although some took three hours to get home and had to be rescued by relatives, said Lex Young, Denver station manager.

“Now they are all stuck at home, which is better than being stuck at the airport,” Young said.

Young said he is hoping to get at least a few employees out to the airport today to help passengers who may be stranded.

Once the airport reopens, the ticket counter will be fully staffed, Young said.

Most of the people still at the airport were evacuated today by a bus and snowplow caravan, the paper reported. The Red Cross had set up a shelter operation at the airport.

All other major airlines also canceled their Denver flights through noon Friday, leaving thousands of travelers scrambling to make alternative plans, the Post reported.

Colorado Gov. Bill Owens declared the storm a disaster emergency and activated National Guard troops to help.


It’s not the first time a blizzard has shut down the airport. Several Alaska employees were stuck at the airport for three days during a blizzard in 2003, Young said. The Alaska ticket counter is stocked with an emergency kit that includes sleeping bags and personal hygiene items (towels, shampoo, soap), he said.

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[3riversBob]

Thanks for the update. Pretty amazing.......Denvers "All Weather Airport" put out by, of all things................SNOW.

Bob

[1pump]

2 feet doesn't sound like much, but I guess it's blowing so hard that it's making humongous snowdrifts. That would suck to hit one at 200mph in a 737.

[Seefood Man]

In 85 Denver had a doozie of a snow storm right before xmas. I picked up my mom 8 hours before the storm shut down the entire city for almost a week. Thank God she did not get stuck there. If I remember right there was 3+ feet that fell in about 48 hours. At the new airport, DIA, there is snow fence the entire way in and out of the airport, however, that don't help the connecting arteries. I would like to think that a city like Denver could handle a 2 foot storm, but they always seem to drag the plows a bit to late and end up trying to play catch up with the storm