We don’t know about you, but we worry anytime there is a flight diversion on a Hawaii flight. The cause of the following diversions isn’t clear. The most obvious are mechanical, medical, and passenger issues, as detailed below. This all happened last week, within a 48-hour period, and involved flights between San Diego and Hawaii. As noted below, these issues all occurred on 737-800 aircraft, not the 737MAX-8 associated with the recent Southwest diversions.
The good news is that all flights landed safely, and passengers ultimately got to where they were going. Kudos to Alaska Airlines! This news, however, came as quite a surprise following yesterday’s article about three Southwest Hawaii flight diversions. To have to report on five such diversions in one day is highly unusual.
Were you on any of these three Alaska flights? All diverted within 48 hours over the Pacific.
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- Monday, August 8, Alaska Flight 806, from Maui to San Diego. It departed at 2:50 PM and had a flight diversion that took place at close to 2 hours in flight towards the west coast. The flight, onboard a Boeing 737-800, returned to Hawaii, landing at Honolulu. at 5:56 PM. The cause of the problem is unknown.
- Tuesday, August 9, Alaska Flight 9201, from Honolulu to San Diego. Unbelievably, that flight suffered the same flight diversion fate as their prior fight 806. The Boeing 737-800 departed Honolulu at 9:48 AM and returned to Honolulu just shy of three hours later at 11:31 AM. If you notice the unusual flight number 9201, that appears to normally be used when it’s a special flight created by Alaska.
- Wednesday, August 10, Alaska Flight 895 from San Diego to Honolulu. A flight diversion was called en route, and the 737-800 aircraft returned to San Diego at 1:37 PM, just one hour later.
What causes mid-Pacific Hawaii flight diversions?
We hope to learn more about the cause of last week’s flight diversions. The last thing airlines want to do is to divert an aircraft. It is frightening, it is annoying, and it is expensive. Sometimes, however, circumstances beyond anyone’s control can result in an aircraft diverting to a different airport than the one planned.
When a diversion occurs, the airline will either resume the same flight when the causal issue is resolved or will terminate the flight and either create a new flight (AS9201) or move passengers to other flights.
One of the causes of flight diversions is the weather, and we’ve encountered those ourselves. They are rare, however, on flights to Hawaii. As an example, a flight your editors were traveling on from New York to San Jose made a weather-related diversion and ended up in Boise Idaho due to severe summer storms that prevented the flight from operating normally.
Flight diversions for mechanical reasons.
Sometimes things just break or give the appearance of being broken. That takes on special meaning mid-Pacific, over the world’s longest open ocean flights without a diversion point. So if the flight crew suspects a problem, they will immediately diagnose it and make the determination as to whether it is safer to continue or to turn back. When turning back soon after take-off, fuel can be an issue and may need to be dumped.
Flight diversions for medical issues.
Airlines are both very well equipped and trained to deal with mid-air medical emergencies. In addition, airliners heaving invest in telemedicine to provide the highest possible level of medical evaluation. That is an adjunct or replacement to the question of whether there is a doctor or nurse onboard.
Flight diversions caused by passenger disruptions.
When Hawaii airline passengers are unruly or are deemed to pose a threat to the safety of other passengers and crew, diversion may be indicated.
Planning for a diversion.
Since this can happen at any time, you definitely want to fly prepared. Having everything that you need, including for example, prescription medicines, snacks, and whatever else you deem a necessity, can prove to be very important.
We are always glad to be beyond the halfway point to Hawaii since that assures you that a diversion will not occur. We’ve personally been on board and witnessed many a close call for mechanical and medical reasons, but haven’t actually experienced a mid-Pacific flight diversion. Have you?
Hat tip to BOH regular commenter Jeff L.
Always have a can of sardines(JIC)
We where on August 10, Alaska Flight 895 from San Diego to Honolulu. So about 20 mins in, Pilot says we have a small computer glitch we must turn around, Don’t worry. As we get near san diego, he says don’t be alarmed by all the firetrucks on the ground.We land with no issues, Although a lot of cops roll up on the runway, We where in first so they let us off right away, As we got off there was several cops that then rushed the plane. Where all told to wait and they would let us know about a new flight, But don’t ask about the plane they don’t know. They put up a new flight time for 4:30, They told us there are getting a new part for the plane. As that time comes and goes, They change it to 6:30, Then they cancelled never got the truth.
They emailed us later with a new flight that left a day later, That left for SF at 10pm and then a flight from there to HNL 2 days later. I rebooked the min they cancelled on Hawaiian for the next morning. I still need to call and try to get credit for the lost hotel in Hawaii and the one I had to book in SD>
The police are not going to board your plane for a mechanical issue
After reading the SWA diversion article, I was the one that reported the 3 Alaska Air diversions in 3 days. I had family on the first 2 flights to San Diego that diverted back to Honolulu. For the first diversion, they were told the freshwater levels on the plane dropped to unacceptable levels. This was the water predominantly used for the restrooms and there are strict health code requirements for that. They never felt in danger for the diversion, but were frustrated by the inconvenience. I never got full clarity on the second diversion, but I believe it was an issue with some interior hardware on the plane, such as a door latch issue. Once again, just frustrated more than anything.
We fly from Honolulu to San Diego on August 10, 2022 at 3:00pm & arrived in San Diego about 11:30pm. Great ✈️ flight! Thanks so Alaska airlines. Nancy & Karsyn
Flight from Sea-Tac to Oahu was diverted 1hour into our flight, apparantly a passengers dog had been improperly placed in the cargo hold.
Strong headwinds causing concerns about whether the planes would have the required fuel reserves?
Yep. Sounds strange doesn’t it? We never got off the plane. Stayed on the ground for an hour and then took off again. It was a small airport.
My family and I were on both of the flights from Hawaii. Very nerve wracking Needless to say my wife may never fly again.
Air travel is still one of the safest forms of transportation there is
Glad to hear your family and you (and all passengers, crew and craft) are okay as that is always the most important concern.
If I may ask, might you share what the crew did or any announcements made while y’all were en route? I am curious as to how this was handled while the diversion was in progress…
Mahalo.
Airlines as a whole are very poorly equipped to deal with medical emergencies. As a practicing anesthesiologist who has come to the aid of passengers on several occasions, I find it appalling that the emergency intravenous fluids and drugs are so inadequately stocked. For example, I assisted a badly sunburned and dehydrated passenger flying from Maui to SF last year. A single 500 cc bag of intravenous fluids was available; 2000 cc at a minimum was necessary. There are medical kits available for around $650 with everything necessary for most emergencies; I see no reason that such a kit is not carried on every commercial flight.
There has also been an increase in solar flair activity lately, which can disrupt radio and other signals and can affect weather.
Awe definitely a scary situation.
What makes you want to avoid Hawaii in the future.. other than the flight issues?
Air Force 2 was in the air Monday to Kauai…
I was on the flights with my wife and three kids. Each time we took off and returned to Honolulu it felt like we were going to crash.I guarantee everyone on those flights thought about death for the two days we were try to get back to San Diego. For us that was just the start of the nightmare trying to get home. Never going back to Hawaii ever and most definitely would not take Alaska airlines over the Ocean again. No Kudos to Alaska airlines!
Thank you for listening, still traumatized from such a experience.
Alaska Airlines is a safe and reliable airline. I’m sorry that happened to you but it’s very rare and I guarantee that you were in no danger of crashing
AMT, That is one guarantee that you cannot ever give
As an aircraft mechanic who takes his job very seriously, yes I can. I can assure you that any aircraft that I, as well as all of my fellow aircraft technicians, work on each and every day are done in accordance with the applicable manuals and a strict adherence to safety. Thus ensuring each aircraft is safe for flight.
Yep, on a direct flight from NY to SFO on a 737. Had to stop in Kansas to refuel. The headwinds had increased fuel consumption… the reason given to us. Made me think how that’s possible with all their calculations for weather and reserve fuel.