Well, it’s official. We’re staying home for the holidays. Originally we had planned on visiting family in Seattle, but with the recent horrible weather they’ve been having, a huge number of flights to SEA/TAC have already been delayed or canceled. That and thousands of people are already stuck in Seattle/Tacoma airport just trying to find ANY possible flight out.

So, what happened?

The Im-Perfect Storm

Let’s start with the weather. The Seattle area, along with most of the United States, is suffering through frigid temperatures causing delays, ice buildup, and not a small number of traffic accidents. Not to mention the variety of extended power outages for many communities. The storm passing over Seattle is the worst anyone’s seen there in over a decade. Lots of snow with freezing weather means that it just sits there and builds up.

To further complicate matters, this slow-moving arctic storm is making it’s way (sloooowly) through the mid-west. Exactly in the flight path of the airline we were intending on taking. Bad weather, coupled with the recent aircraft accident in Denver, CO. has most of the family more than a little nervous to be flying.

The final nail in the coffin was the call from the in-laws to say they had been literally snowed into their house for a week and wouldn’t be able to come get us. With that little bit of news, we apologized, excused ourselves from coming, and immediately got on the phone to the airline to see what we could do about changing our plans.

Not Flying the Friendly Skies

It’s a bit of a relief not going. Not because we don’t want to spend time with the in-laws, but because of the expected hassles this year. Because of the HUGE cost in fuel earlier, most airlines are still on their cut-back flight schedules. That means there are less flights, and the remaining flights are generally completely packed. That lack-of-extra-capacity in particular, has made the situation in Seattle (and other airports) much worse.

Typically in cases where the flight was canceled or delayed, one could book alternate flights with other carriers. Since all the airlines are flying less routes, this has made it extremely difficult, if not almost impossible to find alternate flights. Everything’s already full! Some people have reported that available seat estimates range from a few days, to up to a week until they can get another flight to their destination. Many are given the suggestion to ‘rent a car’ or arrange for alternate, non-flying transportation.

Now I’m not blaming the airlines for this mess, at least not completely. They can’t foresee what the weather is going to be like months ahead of time. This icy winter is catching everyone by surprise. What I can blame them for is keeping the flight schedules on a starvation diet, even after fuel costs have dropped back down to reasonable levels. Less flights with fuller capacities is a great cost-savings measure, as long as nothing goes wrong. That missing extra capacity is now sorely missed by the (possibly former) customers of the airlines.

The airlines lost huge amounts of money when oil shot up to around $140/barrel last summer, and they do need to recoup their operating expenses, but I’m thinking it’s about time to re-consider instituting more flights with a little less per-flight stowage. That way, when (not if) things happen like this again, they won’t get the PR black eye like they are now.

Are your travel plans being affected by the weather and restricted schedules? Leave us a message and let us hear your experiences.