Alaska Airlines Attendants Walk Off Jobs, Affect 5 Flights

An Alaska Airlines flight was canceled and four others were delayed Saturday when flight attendants walked off the job as part of their campaign to disrupt the carrier during a contract dispute.

Of the 20 flight attendants on the five flights, 17 walked off.

Two Seattle-based crews were “withdrawn from service” pending a review, while three Long Beach, Calif.-based crews were ordered to attend a meeting with airline officials today, when they were expected to be withdrawn from service, Mary Jo Manzanares of the Assn. of Flight Attendants said Sunday.

An Oakland-to-Seattle flight was canceled. Flights from San Francisco to Seattle, Seattle to San Francisco, San Jose to Los Angeles and San Jose to Portland were delayed from 30 minutes to 1 1/2 hours while the company rounded up reserve attendants, union officials said.

A Seattle-bound flight was rerouted to Oakland to pick up passengers stranded there by the walkout. The flight arrived in Seattle more than an hour late.

The disruptions were the largest incident so far in a union campaign toward CHAOS--”Create Havoc Around Our System”--with actions ranging from minimal service to random work stoppages.