Alaska Airlines Flight Delay & Cancellation Policy: What to Know!

Did your flight on Alaska Airlines get canceled or delayed by more than 3 hours? If so, you need to understand Alaska Airlines’ policy for handling these situations.

Flight delays and cancellations are an unfortunate part of traveling and while any unexpected schedule changes can be very frustrating, don’t let them discourage you from traveling.  Just make sure you know the rules and your rights when one of these situations occurs.

If you are flying Alaska Airlines, and your flight gets canceled or significantly delayed, here are the key things to know about Alaska’s flight delay and cancellation policy, as well as the protections you have from the U.S. Department of Transportation).

Alaska Airlines Flight Cancellations: What should you do if your flight is canceled?

If your flight is canceled, the first thing you need to figure out is whether the cause of cancellation is within the airline’s control.    A controllable flight cancellation or delay is essentially a delay or cancellation that has been caused by the airline. 

When the situation is “Controllable”, airlines have responsibility and have made commitments, enforceable by the Department of Transportation (“DOT”), on how they will take care of the customer.

Controllable vs. Non-Controllable Delays & Cancellations

• Controllable Delays are caused by things the airline has control over such as maintenance and mechanical issues, lack of available equipment, cabin cleaning, flight crew schedules, fueling, baggage loading, etc.

• Non-Controllable Delays are caused from things that are outside of the airlines control such as weather, air traffic congestion, terrorism, emergency diversion, etc.

Alaska Airlines Policy for Controllable Cancellations:

If your flight is canceled for a controllable reason, Alaska Airlines has pledged to do the following:

• Rebook you on another Alaska Airlines flight at no extra cost.
• Rebook you on a partner airline or another airline with which it has an agreement at no extra cost.
• Provide you with a meal or meal cash/voucher when cancellation results in you having to wait for 3 hours or more for a new flight.
• Provide complimentary hotel accommodations for any passenger affected by an overnight cancellation. (If the departure airport is located 100 or more miles away from your home)
• Provide complimentary ground transportation to and from the hotel for any passenger affected by an overnight cancellation.

How to rebook a delayed or canceled flight on Alaska Airlines

You’re eligible to rebook on Alaska when your flight is delayed longer than 60 minutes (1 hour).

You can call the Alaska customer service line (800-252-7522) or wait in line at the airport, but it’s normally faster to make the change on the Alaska website or app.

Alaska Flight Cancellation Compensation

The U.S. DOT has fewer protections for passengers than other parts of the world. If you are flying in the United States, airlines are not required to provide additional compensation when flights are delayed or canceled.  You will be eligible for a refund but not additional compensation.

Compensation is only required by U.S. law when passengers are “bumped” from an oversold flight.

Refund of Ticket Price

If your flight is canceled and you choose not to take another flight option provided by Alaska, you are entitled to a refund for the unused ticket – even for non-refundable tickets.  This refund includes the ticket price plus any baggage fees you paid, as well as any extras you purchased, such as a seat assignment or pet fee.  

Your compensation for a canceled flight is limited to the costs associated with your ticket only. Alaska Airlines is not required to reimburse you for any consequential costs affected by the canceled flight, such as a prepaid hotel room or rental car, a cruise, concert, or other tickets, or lost wages.

Alaska Flight Delays: What should you do if your Alaska flight is delayed?

Just as with a flight cancellation, there are no requirements to provide additional compensation, so you will first need to understand what has caused the delay and is it controllable by the airline.

Alaska is committed to making customers aware of known delays and cancellations. The Flight Status section on Alaska’s website or the phone app are typically the best places to get an updated status of your flight.

Alaska’s Policy for Controllable Delays:

If your flight is significantly delayed for a controllable reason, Alaska has pledged to do the following:

• Rebook you on another Alaska Airlines flight at no extra cost.
• Rebook you on a partner airline or another airline with which it has an agreement at no extra cost.
• Provide you with a meal or meal cash/voucher when cancellation results in you having to wait for 3 hours or more for a new flight.
• Provide complimentary hotel accommodations for any passenger affected by an overnight delay. (If the departure airport is located 100 or more miles away from your home)
• Provide complimentary ground transportation to and from the hotel for any passenger affected by an overnight delay.

Tarmac Delays

The DOT’s tarmac delay rule requires that flights (departing from a U.S. airport) are required to allow passengers to get off the plane if the delay is longer than three hours (for domestic flights) or four hours (for international flights).

Exceptions to the time limits are allowed only for safety, security, or air traffic control-related reasons.  You should not exit the airplane unless told by the airline that you can do so safely.

• During a lengthy tarmac delay, airlines are required to provide:
  • Drinking water and a snack, such as a granola bar, no later than two hours after the start of the tarmac delay.
  • Working toilets.
  • Comfortable cabin temperatures.
  • Adequate medical attention, if needed.

Airlines do not have to serve passengers full meals during a tarmac delay, even if the tarmac delay lasts for a lengthy period of time. 

Alaska Flight Delay Compensation

If, due to circumstances within Alaska Airlines’ control, your flight is delayed by three hours or more, or canceled such that you must wait three hours or more for a new flight, you can ask (either ask the gate agent or call customer service) and Alaska Airlines will provide your choice of one of the following as compensation:

• A discount code of at least $50* (excluding taxes) good for use on a future Alaska flight. You can use it to cover a future fare that’s less than or equal to the amount of the discount code, or apply the discount code of at least $50 toward a future fare that costs more than the discount code.
• At least 2,000 Mileage Plan miles.

As stated earlier, when flying within or from the United States, there are no federal laws requiring airlines to provide passengers with additional compensation when their flights are delayed. 

How to check Alaska flight status

You can check the status of any Alaska flight via the Flight Status and Notification section of the Alaska website. Here you can search by flight number or if you don’t have the flight number, you can search by the route.

Four ways to avoid flight delays and cancellations

There’s no way to totally avoid flight cancellations and delays, however there are a couple of things you can do to improve your odds.  

1. Fly out in the morning

Don’t fly in the late afternoon or evening. Book the first flight out in the morning.   Morning flights have the best chance of getting out as the plane is already at the airport, so the risk of an inbound delay is eliminated.

2. Book a non-stop flight

The logic here is straightforward. Having a single non-stop flight means you only risk having one flight delayed. If you have a connecting flight, you now have two flights to worry about, and your odds of having a delay have just doubled.

3. Fly a reliable airline

Any airline runs the risk of a flight delay, but it seems to happen to some more than others. Here is a list of the most reliable (U.S.-based) airlines in terms of delays and cancellations. Alaska Airlines is known to be one of the best in terms of on-time performance.

 4. Fly out of a dependable airport

There are some airports that are known for flight delays and cancellations. If you are flying into or out of one of these airports there is a higher chance you will have a delay (listed alphabetically, not by performance).

1. Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI)
2. Boston Logan International Airport (BOS)
3. Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT)
4. Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW)
5. Chicago O’Hare Airport (ORD)
6. Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)
7. Denver International Airport (DEN)
8. Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport (LAS)
9. John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
10. LaGuardia Airport (LGA)
11. Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)
12. Orlando International Airport (MCO)
13. Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)
14. Reagan International Airport (DCA)
15. San Francisco International Airport (SFO)

In Summary

Flight delays and cancellations are inevitable, you can’t totally avoid them, but there are things you can do to reduce your chances of experiencing them.  And if you do encounter a significant delay or cancellation, it’s always good to know the rules and the rights provided to you by both the airline and the DOT.  Hopefully this article helps!