SEA travel woes impacting Seattle residents

SEATAC, Wash. — It was another chaotic day at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport as there were hundreds of cancellations and delays throughout Christmas Day.

KIRO 7 talked to travelers from across the country at SEA during the holiday weekend. Many are perplexed about this entire situation.

“So, they took it upon themselves to reschedule us to go back home on the 28th. But we’ve got to get back home. I’ve got a business. I’ve got employees,” said Sean Colvin from Tucson, Arizona.

Colvin says he flew with Southwest on this trip. He feels the communication between the airline and customers could improve.

“But they can answer their phones. They can come out and talk to us. You know, do something else. Communicate with us. And that’s not happening,” Colvin said.

But the impact of the cancellations and delays has been felt by many living in the Puget Sound. Leslie Camacho out of Federal Way tells KIRO 7 she was going to surprise her kids with a trip to Disneyland this Christmas — a gift she was looking forward to all year.

“Well, we originally were surprising our kids to Disneyland for Christmas. And it’s their first time to Disneyland and it was something that we planned all year,” Camacho said.

She says they were going to fly with Alaska Airlines. But she says their original planned flight on Thursday was canceled due to mechanical issues. She says their flight was also canceled the next morning. And on Christmas day, the final flight was also canceled.

“They sent us an email saying they can’t reschedule the flight. There’s nothing available,” Camacho said.

She says because of this final cancellation, their entire trip had to be canceled. She says she isn’t sure how much money they are going to get back.

“And with all the money we put into this trip….” Camacho said.

“It’s their Christmas present and there’s nothing under the tree,” Camacho said.

And while she and her family are heartbroken about the situation, she feels so many people who are traveling have had a horrible holiday.

“It just tells me that the bigger dogs up there just don’t care about the little people. It just shows that they don’t care about us,” Camacho said.

“I just hope that next time they are actually professional and organized,” Camacho said.

KIRO 7 reached out to SEA about when we could see an end to the massive amount of cancellations and delays, but have not yet heard back.

©2022 Cox Media Group