TRAVEL ALERT: Hurricane Patricia and Puerto Vallarta

October 22, 2015
Stories
Alaska Airlines
5 min read

Updated 9:40 a.m., Oct. 24, 2015

Alaska Airlines resumes flights out of Puerto Vallarta

Alaska Airlines will fly all five of its scheduled flights today out of Puerto Vallarta.

The airport in Puerto Vallarta is open and operational Saturday morning after Hurricane Patricia made landfall Friday night. Alaska plans to fly five planes down to Puerto Vallarta to pick up customers and bring them to the U.S.

Flights out of Puerto Vallarta on Saturday, Oct. 24:

AS 263: 4 p.m. Puerto Vallarta-Los Angeles
AS 245: 4:10 p.m. Puerto Vallarta-San Diego-Portland
AS 231: 4:30 p.m. Puerto Vallarta-San Francisco-Seattle
AS 257: 4:55 p.m. Puerto Vallarta-Los Angeles
AS 223: 5:24 p.m. Puerto Vallarta-San Francisco-Seattle

Extra flight out of Guadalajara on Saturday, Oct. 24:

AS 9233: 3:40 p.m. Guadalajara-Los Angeles.
Alaska will fly one flight out of Guadalajara on Saturday for Alaska Airlines customers who may have evacuated there during the storm. Alaska Airlines customers who want to be rebooked onto this flight may call Alaska Airlines Reservations at 1-800-252-7522 (if calling from within Mexico, call 001-800-252-7522) or rebook at the ticket counter at the Guadalajara airport.

You may check the status of your flight at www.alaskaair.com/flightstatus.

If you prefer to change, postpone or cancel your plans: Alaska Airlines offers flexible travel policies related to Hurricane Patricia

Updated 7:15 a.m., Oct. 24, 2015

Alaska Airlines will fly all five of its scheduled flights today out of Puerto Vallarta. The airport in Puerto Vallarta is open and operational Saturday morning after Hurricane Patricia made landfall Friday night.

Updated 5:20 p.m., Oct. 23, 2015

Alaska Airlines is canceling all passenger reservations into Puerto Vallarta for Saturday, Oct. 24, due to the uncertainty of the impact of the storm. Customers scheduled on these flights will be rebooked for future flights.

Affected flights include:

AS 250 Los Angeles – Puerto Vallarta
AS 276 San Diego – Puerto Vallarta
AS 229 Seattle – Puerto Vallarta
AS 222 San Francisco – Puerto Vallarta
AS 288 Orange County – Puerto Vallarta

** Note to customers: While Alaska’s flight tracker may still show these flights as operating normally, the airline will not be flying any passengers into Puerto Vallarta Oct. 24.

“We will stay in close contact with our employees on the ground in Jalisco. If the airport in Puerto Vallarta is operational, we hope to be able to fly those five airplanes empty into Puerto Vallarta to bring as many customers home as we can,” said Todd Sproul, Alaska’s managing director of system operations control.

About 2,000 passengers were scheduled to fly into or out of Puerto Vallarta Saturday.

Updated 2:45 p.m., Oct. 23, 2015

Alaska has extended its flexible travel policy for customers traveling to and from Puerto Vallarta, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, and Manzanillo from Oct. 23-26. Customers may change or refund tickets without incurring a fee. Tickets may be changed to any other destination within Mexico if the travel is in the same cabin and completed on or before November 6, 2015. Learn more.

Updated 11:50 a.m., Oct. 23, 2015

What is the status of flights to/from Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo for Saturday, Oct. 24?

Two flights in and out of Manzanillo have been canceled for Saturday, Oct. 24. Affected flights:

AS 278 Los Angeles – Manzanillo
AS 265 Manzanillo – Los Angeles

Alaska’s emergency command center continues to closely tracking the weather in Jalisco, and is in close communication with Alaska employees on the ground in Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillo, Guadalajara and Ixtapa.

Current reports indicate that Hurricane Patricia is the strongest hurricane on record in the National Hurricane Center’s area of responsibility, and Alaska officials are prepared for potentially major operational disruptions in the region.

On Saturday, Oct. 24, Alaska has 10 flights scheduled in and out of Puerto Vallarta. Alaska will decide this afternoon whether to cancel flights operating out of these cities.

“Our top priority is taking care of our customers and employees in the affected region. We will not fly customers into the region unless it is absolutely safe to do so,” said Todd Sproul, Alaska’s managing director of system operations control. “If the airports are operational, we stand poised to do whatever we can to get our customers home as safely and as quickly as possible.”

Updated 9:30 a.m., Oct. 23, 2015

Alaska Airlines continues to keep a close eye on the situation in Puerto Vallarta. Alaska was permitted to operate one flight (AS 9231, PVR-LAX) with about 150 people out of Puerto Vallarta this morning before the airport closure. We will continue to post updates here as information becomes available.

https://twitter.com/MyEverLights/status/657589972627800065

Updated 9:45 p.m., Oct. 22, 2015

Officials at Puerto Vallarta’s Licenciado Gustavo Díaz Ordaz International Airport have announced that the airport will close on Friday, Oct. 23, as the region prepares for Hurricane Patricia, described by the Weather Channel as having the potential to become “the most powerful hurricane to cross Mexico’s Pacific coastline in modern history.”

As a result of the airport closure, all 10 Alaska Airlines flights to and from Puerto Vallarta have been canceled for Friday, Oct. 23. Affected flights include:

AS 257 Puerto Vallarta – Los Angeles
AS 250 Los Angeles – Puerto Vallarta
AS 245 Puerto Vallarta – San Diego
AS 276 San Diego – Puerto Vallarta
AS 206 Puerto Vallarta – Seattle
AS 229 Seattle – Puerto Vallarta
AS 223 Puerto Vallarta – San Francisco
AS 222 San Francisco – Puerto Vallarta
AS 289 Puerto Vallarta – Orange County
AS 288 Orange County – Puerto Vallarta

If your flight has been affected, you may rebook your flight, apply for a refund or call Alaska Airlines Reservations at 1-800-252-7522 (if calling from within Mexico, call 001-800-252-7522). Alaska has also implemented a flexible travel policy for customers traveling to and from Puerto Vallarta, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, and Manzanillo on Oct. 23 and 24. Customers may change or refund tickets without incurring a fee. Learn more.

The safety of Alaska’s customers and employees is our top priority and we will only operate flights when it is absolutely safe to do so. We are closely monitoring the situation in Puerto Vallarta and looking at the viability of flights scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 24. Information will be posted here as it becomes available.

As always, we advise you to check your flight status before departure.