Strange Odor Forces Alaska Airlines Flight Diversion, Hospitalizes Flight Crew

Strange Odor Forces Alaska Airlines Flight Diversion

An Alas­ka Air­lines flight from Kauai, Hawaii to Seat­tle was forced to divert to Hon­olu­lu after a strange odor was detect­ed in the cab­in, caus­ing four flight atten­dants to become ill and require hospitalization.

Flight Details and Crew Conditions

Alas­ka Air­lines Flight 810 was in the air for about an hour and a half on Thurs­day night when the crew report­ed the uniden­ti­fi­able odor. 

The plane, a Boe­ing 737–800, land­ed in Hon­olu­lu with 119 guests and six crew mem­bers on board. While the flight atten­dants were sent to the hos­pi­tal, none of the pilots or pas­sen­gers required med­ical attention.

Airline Response and Further Investigation

Alas­ka Air­lines has not yet pro­vid­ed details on the nature of the odor or the con­di­tions of the hos­pi­tal­ized flight atten­dants. The plane was flown back to Seat­tle with­out pas­sen­gers for fur­ther inspection. 

The air­line is in the process of merg­ing with Hawai­ian Air­lines, and this inci­dent comes just months after a door plug blowout on one of their Boe­ing 737–9 MAX flights.

Previous Incidents and Safety Concerns

Ear­li­er this sum­mer, Boe­ing faced crit­i­cism from the NTSB for shar­ing details about the inves­ti­ga­tion into the door plug blowout inci­dent dur­ing a media briefing. 

This lat­est event with the strange odor on the Alas­ka Air­lines flight is sure to raise fur­ther ques­tions about air­craft safe­ty and the respon­si­bil­i­ty of air­lines and man­u­fac­tur­ers to ensure the well­be­ing of pas­sen­gers and crew.