LOS ANGELES — Smiling selfies taken by students as part of the Newport High School choir trip show some of the good times that were had last week.
The group traveled to Disneyland to sing at the theme park and explore Los Angeles.
"We had one day of just having fun exploring LA with our chaperone groups and the next three days we spent at Disneyland," said senior Brendan Kelly.
His friend and fellow senior Peter Wong called the trip very fun. The two seniors said things were almost picture-perfect until it was time to fly home.
"I want to go back," Kelly said.
"We both basically had our first experiences at Disney," Wong said.
In the last two months, thousands of flights across the country have been canceled because of severe weather. An analysis of data from FlightAware by Forbes Advisor found that 4,457 flights were canceled nationally from Feb. 19-Feb. 26.
The Newport High group was scheduled to fly back on Feb. 24. It did not happen.
What's being called historic weather, which brought rain, flooding, and intense winds, grounded the Alaska Airlines 8:55 p.m. flight to Seattle from the Hollywood Burbank Airport.
"It was the last flight of the day, so we didn't really know what was going to happen from there," Kelly said.
For hours, students said they waited in the airport as school staff worked with gate agents and the airline trying to figure something out.
Alaska Airlines released the statement below about the incident.
"We’re very sorry for the situation our guests experienced traveling back from Burbank. The LA region experienced historic weather last week that shut down the Burbank airport and snarled air traffic, that includes a rare blizzard warning and flooding, the latter which ultimately shut down the Burbank airport. This group was unfortunately caught up in this historic weather and its impacts. We were forced to cancel the flight and our team worked to accommodate the students and their chaperones on other flights as quickly as possible through multiple airports in the LA region. Despite options on multiple flights, we were told that the group’s school policy did not allow travel on separate flights. With a group this large, that meant the earliest we could accommodate them in accordance with their policy was today, February 27. We offered everyone in the group hotels, but when the group leader called our reservation agent back, they had already chartered a bus. We have refunded the return portion of their reservation."
The Bellevue School District released the statement, specifically addressing the policy Alaska Airlines mentioned in their statement.
"The well-being of our students is our top priority. Newport administrators are working with families to address the concerns raised by our parents and students. Additionally, we have a student-to-staff ratio that must be adhered to when traveling for safety reasons and concerns. We are thankful to our students who worked through this challenge as our future leaders – and that they returned safely."
To make the situation worse, students said the airport forced them out of the secure area with nowhere to go but baggage claim. Although hotels were options, severe weather prevented them from leaving the airport. Many of the students were wearing wet clothes or switched into pajamas because they thought they'd be home Friday night.
"I think the worst part was the airport because they did not have accommodations for us," said junior Annelise Widdis.
"Trying to sleep there was basically like if I was curling up on this concrete ground here trying to get some shut-eye, but it was 20 whole hours," Kelly said
Hollywood Burbank Airport sent the following statement regarding the matter.
"On Friday night, a group of 65 people spent the night in a pre-security area in Terminal B after their 8:55 pm flight was canceled due to weather. The group was escorted out of the post-security, Sterile Area and re-booked their flights for Saturday morning. Airport police officers stood by with the group, answering any questions they had.
Due to security regulations, the Sterile Area is closed and secured on a nightly basis. Passengers with re-scheduled flights for the following morning are allowed to stay overnight in the pre-security area of the Airport."
Buses were chartered to get students back home from California turning what was supposed to be a two-hour flight back home into a two-day ordeal. In the future, the students are hopeful some policies, specifically the one that forced them to sleep in baggage claim, can be modified in extreme circumstances like this one.
"I feel like there's a lot more leeway that has to happen for situations like this because it does happen," Widdis said.