Dozens of flights in and out of Los Angeles International Airport were cancelled or delayed as Hurricane Patricia, the strongest storm ever recorded, slammed into Mexico, leaving many travelers stranded.
Alaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines each canceled one LAX flight bound for Puerto Vallarta, along with one flight each from Puerto Vallarta to Los Angeles, according to the flight-tracking website FlightAware.com.
Puerto Vallarta’s airport was closed overnight, but was expected to reopen this afternoon.
At least nine flights from Los Angeles International Airport to San Diego were delayed late Friday as the hurricane made landfall. But meteorologists said the hurricane had been downgraded from a Category 5 to a Category 1 after initially slamming into luxury resorts and nearby villages 55 miles west-northwest of Manzanillo.
Earlier Friday, American Airlines canceled one flight in each direction between LAX and Guadalajara.
Four flights to and from Puerto Vallarta were canceled at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, spokeswoman Rachel Gibson said.
“Due to potential impacts of Hurricane Patricia, we recommend passengers traveling to or from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, check with their airline to confirm flight status prior to arriving at the airport,” Gibson said.
Alaska Airlines was able to fly one flight — which it dubbed a “rescue flight” — carrying 150 passengers out of Puerto Vallarta to LAX. That flight arrived in Los Angeles around 1:30 p.m.
LAX spokesman Marshall Lowe said passengers will have to work with individual airlines on travel arrangements, but airport officials were doing what they can to assist.
“At this point, there’s nothing we can do. The individual airlines usually handle the contingencies when things like this occur,” Lowe said. “We help out when and where we can. We will have people going around giving out water, etc., and volunteers to provide help, but generally it’s in a support role to the airlines and the airport police, if they are involved.”
Los Angeles Airport police Officer Rob Pedregon said the department was available to assist, but their main goal it so maintain “crowd control.”
“It’s OK if someone is mad and irate at a counter, but we have to make sure it doesn’t get out of hand,” he said.
To ensure that, officers are prepared to quickly arrive when called, Pedregon said.
“If we have to, we can have a hundred officers there in less than five minutes,” Pedrogon said, noting that the LAPD’s Pacific Division is only a few minutes away, as are personnel from the El Segundo and Inglewood police departments, who share nearby borders with Los Angeles.
Airline passengers were not the only travelers affected by the storm. On Friday, Princess Cruises re-routed one of its ships, the Ruby Princess, which was scheduled to stop today in Cabo San Lucas. According to the cruise line’s Twitter account, the ship spent the day at sea instead, and will return to the Port of Los Angeles as scheduled on Sunday.
