Alaska Airlines passenger says airline is ‘stranding’ customers at remote airport in the Arctic

Alaska Airlines has been accused of stranding more than 100 passengers at the US’s northernmost airport, 350 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

A customer, who identified himself as Jim, contacted aviation site One Mile at a Time, where blogger Ben Schlappig published his email in full.

Jim writes: “I and three companions are in Barrow Alaska, stranded with I’m guessing close to 100 other people.

“On 25 August, we took a flight on Alaska Air from Anchorage to Barrow Alaska with the intention of returning to Anchorage today [26 August]. Upon arrival in Barrow we discovered the flight we took yesterday was the first flight that had been able to land in Barrow for the last three to four days.

“Many people we talked with in the hotel have been stranded since Monday and informed us we had little chance of getting out today or even in the next few days!”

Wiley Post-Will Rogers Memorial Airport (BRW) is the airport in Barrow, Alaska, which has been formally called Utqiaġvik since 2016.

The US’s northernmost airport, it’s a sought-after stop for both aviation fans (often referred to as avgeeks) and tourists on Arctic tours.

Alaska Airlines is the only airline to fly into or out of the airport, operating a sole Boeing 737 flight from Anchorage to BRW each day.

One Mile at a Time reports that this service was cancelled twice during the prior two weeks – while three times, it took off and flew most of the way to BRW before diverting back to Anchorage.

Meanwhile, the return BRW to Anchorage flight was cancelled six times in the same two weeks to 26 August.

Jim continues his complaint: “Upon further investigation with others in the hotel (including several military employees who are also stranded), we discovered the problem is twofold.

“The airport runways are under construction and, as a result, the radar is out. This results in the necessity of having a much higher requirement for the cloud ceiling — 600ft instead of the 200 usually required if all the ground equipment is functional.

“Last night, as the fog rolled in (as predicted by the Coast Guard employees stranded here), we realised we were in real trouble — we had planned a quick overnight trip, so we have no clothes and a limited supply of medicine.”

Jim says that he and other abandoned passengers called Alaska Airlines on Thursday, adding that the employees did not seem to know anything about radar problems at the airport, and not much about Barrow to start with.

He claimed that they did…