An Alaska Airlines passenger claims his recent flight was diverted after the pilot admitted he did not have the necessary qualifications to land the plane.
Reddit user @babecityrecords posted on the Alaska Airlines subreddit about his alleged experience on a flight from Portland to Jackson Hole with a stopover in San Francisco.
“As we were about to land in Jackson (they had literally already told us to prepare for landing approach), the pilot came up to the ceiling and said, ‘Hey, I’m really sorry guys, but since I’m not qualified to land in Jackson Hole, we’re going to have to divert to Salt Lake City, Utah. We’ll keep you updated on next steps,'” the Redditor wrote. “We then landed in Salt Lake City, they apologized again and gave us no further information, waited on the tarmac for about an hour and a half, and then the pilot got off the plane (in a walk of shame since his bag was in the overhead bin in the back of the plane lol) and then a new pilot from Salt Lake City got on the plane and we flew to Jackson.
“This time we landed in Jackson, but it was perhaps the bumpiest descent landing I have ever experienced.”
The Redditor said the incident delayed their scheduled landing by “about three hours” and asked if others had experienced a similar situation. Another Redditor suspected that the pilots “had recently received qualification to land at JAC (because they weren’t allowed to fly the route otherwise – regulations would have triggered a crew swap), but they felt they weren’t experienced/confident enough to handle the wind or other conditions that day.”
“That’s why the pilots decided to abort the landing and play it safe,” the commentator added. “This shows that the system of controls and communication with air traffic control is working – this should make you less nervous when you fly in the future.”
Alaska Airlines’ website has a policy that states, “If your flight is delayed or canceled for three hours or more due to circumstances within our control, requiring you to wait three hours or more for a new flight, we will provide a reasonable meal to each ticketed guest at the airport,” but notes that “specific options may depend on the availability of airport providers,” as the Reddit user questioned whether he was eligible for compensation given his circumstances.
