SEATTLE – An Alaska Airlines jetliner was diverted to Seattle when the plane’s cabin failed to pressurize normally Friday during a San Francisco-bound flight from Vancouver, B.C.
Four people who complained of ear and sinus pain were taken to a nearby hospital after being checked out by airport medics, airline spokeswoman Amanda Tobin Bielawski said.
The Boeing 737 with 122 passengers on board landed safely at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where medics tended to 10 passengers and three crew members, Bielawski said.
Initially, the airline said no one required further treatment, but it later learned four passengers asked to be taken to a hospital, Bielawski said. She did not have immediate details on their condition.
An altitude warning alarm sounded when Flight 690 reached 33,000 feet, indicating that the air pressure inside the cabin was lower than it should be, spokeswoman Caroline Boren said.
The plane then made a controlled descent to Seattle, landing about 8:20 a.m., Bielawski said.
The aircraft did not experience a sudden loss in pressure, and oxygen masks did not deploy, she added.
One passenger from Kamloops, B.C., told KING Television in Seattle that his wife “started holding her ears and said it felt like there was a chisel in her head … and just started crying.” In an interview at Highline Hospital, James Pinske said his wife would have to stay overnight, delaying their honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
The Seattle-based airline brought in a replacement plane, which took off about 10:40 a.m. and landed in San Francisco just after 1 p.m.
Earlier this year, Alaska ordered a fleet-wide inspection of its planes’ air pressure systems after a series of similar cabin pressure problems. The company said no systemwide problems were found.
Bielawski said the airline was working to determine what prevented the plane from pressurizing normally. She added: “There’s nothing at this point to suggest that this is anything other than an isolated incident.”
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