SEATTLE — The Seattle-Tacoma International Airport experienced cancelations and delays after federal officials ordered the immediate grounding of Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliners.
The planes were grounded for inspection after an Alaska Airlines plane suffered a blowout that left a gaping hole in the side of the fuselage.
The required inspections take around four to eight hours per aircraft and affect about 171 airplanes worldwide. As of Saturday morning, inspections on more than a quarter of the fleet were complete "with no concerning findings," the company said.
According to FlightAware, Sea-Tac saw 221 delays and 86 cancelations Saturday. Nearly all of the cancelations were Alaska Airlines.
There were so many Alaska flights canceled that the airport utilized their overflow area on the bottom floor of the parking garage in order to rebook travelers. Multiple travelers KING 5 spoke with waited between three-six hours in line to speak with an Alaska agent for rebooking.
"Five hours," said traveler Marianne Purbis of her wait time in line. "It's rough."
"We stayed in line for three and a half hours and we got to the Alaska table and you know, they got us redirected. So at least they were able to do that for us," said traveler John Coleman, whose family had to rebook a flight for the next day to get home after holiday travel.
Although the travel issues were frustrating for passengers like Coleman, many people said they understood that it was due to safety concerns.
"So fortunately enough, they're doing it because of safety," said Coleman. "But it's a big inconvenience, obviously, for everybody."
By Sunday afternoon, there were another 96 cancelations within a 24-hour period. Around 5:30 p.m. on Monday, around 90 flights had been canceled at Sea-Tac within a 24-hour period.
Some travelers were headed to Texas for the National Championship Game to cheer on the Washington Huskies.
"Well, it's been rough, we woke up this morning and our flight got canceled," said Jake Davison, a UW alum headed whose Alaska Airlines flight to San Antonio got canceled.
Davison said he ended up paying more money to do a combination of United Airlines and Alaska flights to ensure he could get to the game in Houston.
"We would drive if we had to," Davison said laughing. "It's not even an option, we're thrilled. It's been a phenomenal season and we're excited for the boys."
An Alaska Airlines jetliner blew out a window and a portion of its fuselage shortly after takeoff 3 miles above Oregon late Friday, creating a gaping hole that forced the pilots to make an emergency landing as its 174 passengers and six crew members donned oxygen masks.
Videos posted by passengers online showed a gaping hole where the window had been and passengers wearing their masks. They applauded when the plane landed safely about 13 minutes after the window blew out.
The aircraft involved rolled off the assembly line and received its certification just two months ago, according to online FAA records. The plane had been on 145 flights since entering commercial service on Nov. 11, said FlightRadar24, another tracking service. The flight from Portland was the aircraft's third of the day.
The Max is the newest version of Boeing’s venerable 737, a twin-engine, single-aisle plane frequently used on U.S. domestic flights. The plane went into service in May 2017.