As U.S. airlines scramble to restore normal operations in the Caribbean after a sudden Federal Aviation Administration airspace closure tied to military action in Venezuela, Alaska Airlines is quietly confronting a very different crisis at home.

The Seattle-based carrier has logged a record spike in sick calls among its flight attendants amid what staff and medical officials are describing as a sweeping “super flu” and respiratory virus surge across the United States, adding fresh strain to an industry already on edge.

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Caribbean Airspace Shutdown Ripples Across U.S. Airlines

On January 3, 2026, the FAA issued emergency restrictions that effectively closed large swaths of Eastern Caribbean airspace to U.S. carriers following a U.S. military operation that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The notice grounded hundreds of flights in and out of key leisure destinations at the peak of the winter travel season, leaving aircraft and crew stranded across island airports and sowing confusion among travelers heading home from holiday breaks.

Puerto Rico, Barbados, Aruba, Saint Lucia, Grenada, Antigua, the U.S. Virgin Islands and other hubs saw operations grind to a halt as airlines complied with the directive.

San Juan’s Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport was among the hardest hit, with more than 300 cancellations reported in a single day and terminal concourses filled with passengers sleeping on floors or queuing for hours at customer service counters.

Similar scenes unfolded at airports in Barbados, Saint Maarten and St. Thomas as U.S. carriers pulled flights from departure boards.

Major airlines including American, Delta, United, JetBlue, Spirit and Frontier all reported extensive cancellations and delays, with some carriers deploying widebody aircraft on normally narrowbody routes and adding extra flights once the restrictions began to ease.

While the FAA allowed the mandatory closure to expire at midnight Eastern Time on January 4, travel experts warn that the operational shock will take days to unwind as planes and flight crews are repositioned and backlogged passengers are accommodated.

Even after the formal ban lifted, a cautionary notice remains in effect over parts of the region due to continuing military activity and security concerns connected to Venezuelan airspace.

Airlines have urged travelers with imminent Caribbean itineraries to monitor apps and email alerts closely and to avoid heading to the airport without confirmed or rebooked tickets, as recovery schedules remain fluid.

Alaska Airlines Faces a Different Kind of Disruption

While Alaska Airlines has comparatively limited exposure in the Eastern Caribbean compared with some of its larger rivals, the carrier is wrestling with its own operational threat far from the Venezuelan conflict zone.

Over the first January weekend, the airline recorded an unusually high and concentrated wave of sick calls among flight attendants, driven by an aggressive flu and respiratory virus season that has swept across many U.S. regions later than usual.

According to internal communications described by people familiar with operations, more than 500 Alaska flight attendants were listed as absent at the peak of the disruption, marking one of the highest short-term staffing shocks the airline has faced outside of major weather events.

Cabin crew availability is one of the tightest constraints in commercial aviation because federal safety rules require a minimum number of flight attendants on every aircraft based on seat count.

Alaska has not framed the surge as an organized labor action, and union leaders representing the carrier’s cabin crew have in recent months been focused on implementing a newly ratified contract that delivers significant pay increases and improved work rules.

Instead, the spike appears to be squarely rooted in illness, echoing reports from hospital emergency rooms in the Pacific Northwest and other regions where physicians are seeing heavy volumes of influenza A, Covid and other stubborn respiratory infections sometimes referred to colloquially as a “super flu.”

The challenge for the airline is that traditional buffers built into the operation, such as reserve flight attendants and flexible scheduling tools, are designed to withstand normal seasonal illness patterns, not an abrupt wave of hundreds of simultaneous absences.

Once those reserve pools are exhausted, network planners must decide which flights to delay, cancel outright or consolidate, risking knock-on disruptions that can ripple through the system for days.

Record Sick Calls and the “Super Flu” Surge

The spike in Alaska’s flight attendant sick calls coincides with anecdotal reports from clinicians and travelers of a particularly severe and lingering respiratory virus season.

Social media and travel forums are filled with accounts of guests falling ill during or after trips, families seeing multiple members test positive for flu within days of one another, and patients battling coughs and fatigue lasting several weeks despite negative tests for Covid, influenza B and RSV.

In the Pacific Northwest, where Alaska maintains its largest base in Seattle, hospital staff describe crowded emergency departments treating waves of influenza A cases alongside Covid infections and a yet-unidentified viral illness that can stretch on for a month or more.

Some medical professionals have speculated about a potential adenovirus or enterovirus pattern contributing to the mix, underscoring the complexity of this winter’s respiratory landscape.

For aviation workers on the front lines of passenger contact, the uptick presents both a health and operational risk. Flight attendants spend hours in close quarters with hundreds of travelers, many of whom are boarding aircraft despite mild symptoms.

Even with air filtration systems and improved cleaning protocols, the cabin environment can be fertile ground for transmission during peak travel periods.

Once sickness moves through a crew base, the resulting wave of absences can test the limits of any roster.

The Association of Flight Attendants, which represents Alaska’s cabin crew, has long urged airlines to maintain robust sick leave banks and to avoid policies that might prompt ill employees to work flights when they should stay home.

Recent union guidance has also warned Alaska flight attendants that management is closely monitoring sick leave usage and has disciplined some workers for perceived abuse, adding another layer of tension as genuine illness levels climb.

Operational Lessons Learned From Earlier Staffing Crises

Alaska Airlines has dealt with illness-related staffing challenges before. During previous Covid variant waves, the carrier reduced its schedules by about 10 percent in January to regain control as unprecedented sick calls made it difficult to operate reliably.

That experience appears to be informing the airline’s current strategy as it seeks to manage the latest wave of crew shortages without triggering large-scale chaos.

Rather than immediately slashing capacity across the board this month, the airline has adopted what internal observers describe as a defensive posture.

Scheduling teams are prioritizing core trunk routes and high-demand markets, while selectively trimming less critical frequencies and pairing patterns that are most vulnerable to rolling delays.

This approach is designed to preserve network integrity and prevent a cascade of last-minute cancellations that would strand passengers and crews in outstations far from maintenance and staffing bases.

Industry analysts note that crew shortages can sometimes be more destabilizing than aircraft shortages. While airlines can borrow or lease planes, or extend flying hours on existing equipment, there is no quick fix for a large portion of the cabin crew being home sick.

Regulatory rest requirements and duty-day limits mean that even healthy flight attendants cannot simply stretch their schedules indefinitely to fill gaps without risking safety violations or fatigue.

The current situation at Alaska also plays out against a backdrop of heightened scrutiny on the airline after last year’s Boeing 737 MAX 9 door plug incident, which grounded part of its fleet and put the carrier’s safety culture under a microscope.

Although the manufacturer-related issue is distinct from today’s illness-driven staffing squeeze, together they have created a compound test of Alaska’s resilience and crisis management capabilities.

What the Dual Crises Mean for Travelers

For passengers, the convergence of Caribbean airspace closures and Alaska’s staffing crunch reinforces a core reality of modern air travel: even a system that appears to be operating normally on paper can be a single weather front, military action or virus wave away from significant disruption.

Travelers booked on Alaska itineraries in the coming days may not face the same government-mandated groundings that Caribbean-bound passengers endured, but they could encounter last-minute schedule changes, tight connections or swapped aircraft types as the airline shuffles resources.

Travel advisors are encouraging clients to build extra time into itineraries, particularly when connecting to cruises, weddings or international departures that are less flexible than a typical domestic flight.

They are also steering customers toward early-morning departures when possible, as those flights are generally less likely to be affected by delays cascading through the day.

Paying close attention to email and app notifications has become essential, with some airlines quietly adjusting timings or equipment overnight as they rebalance their networks.

Passengers who recently returned from the Caribbean may be feeling the combined effects of both crises. Some were stranded on islands for extra days when U.S. carriers halted operations under FAA order, only to face congested airports and oversold flights when services resumed.

Those who picked up seasonal illnesses along the way might now find themselves joining the ranks of sick travelers whose symptoms contribute indirectly to the staffing shortfalls confronting Alaska and other airlines back on the mainland.

Consumer advocates continue to press for clearer national standards on rebooking practices and passenger care during extraordinary disruptions, whether driven by war-related airspace closures or public health conditions.

For now, policies vary widely by carrier, and compensation remains more likely when events are within an airline’s control rather than the result of government directives or the spread of seasonal disease.

How Alaska Airlines and Its Crews Are Responding

Within Alaska Airlines, managers and union representatives are working to steady operations while maintaining trust between leadership and front-line staff.

The newly ratified three-year contract for flight attendants, approved with overwhelming support in early 2025, delivers substantial pay increases, boarding pay and improved benefits, recognition that crews bore significant burdens during the pandemic years and the subsequent operational recovery.

That agreement also strengthened sick leave provisions and quality-of-life protections, a factor that may be making it easier for flight attendants to stay home when genuinely ill during this “super flu” surge.

For the airline, the trade-off is a sharper short-term hit to staffing levels when viruses spike, but with the benefit of a healthier workforce and potentially reduced in-flight illness transmission over the longer term.

Union communications in recent months have emphasized both the importance of using sick leave appropriately and the reality that management is auditing patterns closely.

Guidance has cautioned members that calling in sick for non-medical reasons can be a terminable offense, but has also urged anyone who is truly unwell to avoid flying, not only to comply with safety expectations but to prevent spreading illness to colleagues and passengers.

Operationally, Alaska is leaning heavily on technology to manage the disruption. Automated crew scheduling systems are being used to reassign reserves in near real time, while integrated ops centers weigh weather, maintenance and staffing constraints across the network.

The airline has also encouraged customers whose plans are flexible to consider voluntary rebooking to less busy days, creating pockets of relief in the schedule that can absorb last-minute challenges.

FAQ

Q1. Why did the FAA force U.S. airlines to cancel Caribbean flights?
The FAA issued emergency restrictions over parts of the Eastern Caribbean on January 3, 2026, after U.S. military action in Venezuela created safety concerns in regional airspace. To protect civil aviation, U.S. carriers were temporarily barred from using affected routes, prompting widespread cancellations.

Q2. Are Caribbean flights operating normally again?
The mandatory airspace closure expired at midnight Eastern Time on January 4, 2026, and airlines have been restoring flights since then. However, residual delays, schedule changes and occasional cancellations are expected for several days as carriers reposition aircraft and crews and work through backlogs of stranded passengers.

Q3. How badly was Alaska Airlines affected by the Caribbean airspace closure?
Alaska Airlines has a smaller footprint in the Eastern Caribbean than some competitors, so it was less directly impacted by the FAA’s directive. Its primary challenge at the moment stems from crew illness on its domestic and transcontinental network rather than from the Caribbean shutdown itself.

Q4. What is happening with Alaska Airlines flight attendants right now?
Alaska has experienced a record short-term spike in flight attendant sick calls, with internal figures indicating more than 500 cabin crew members were absent at peak. The absences are tied to a broad wave of flu and respiratory illnesses circulating in the United States, which some staff have informally described as a “super flu.”

Q5. Could Alaska Airlines start canceling a lot of flights because of sick crews?
The airline is already adjusting some schedules and operating in a defensive posture to manage the impact of crew shortages. While it has not announced mass cuts on the scale seen during earlier Covid waves, travelers should be prepared for potential last-minute changes, especially on less frequent routes and late-day departures.

Q6. Is this illness surge unique to Alaska Airlines employees?
No. Medical providers and public health officials across multiple states are reporting a heavy flu and respiratory virus season, with high levels of influenza A, Covid and other lingering respiratory infections. Flight attendants, who have prolonged exposure to large numbers of travelers, may be particularly vulnerable during such surges.

Q7. What protections do Alaska flight attendants have if they get sick?
Under a three-year contract ratified in 2025, Alaska flight attendants receive improved pay, better scheduling rules and enhanced sick leave provisions. The agreement was billed as industry-leading by the union and the company, and is intended in part to ensure that cabin crew are not financially pressured to work flights while ill.

Q8. How can travelers reduce their risk of disruption on upcoming flights?
Experts recommend booking earlier flights in the day, allowing extra time for connections, closely monitoring airline apps and email alerts, and considering flexible tickets or travel insurance that covers delays. During periods of operational stress, building in buffer time around cruises, events or international connections can be especially important.

Q9. Are passengers entitled to compensation when flights are canceled for airspace closures or illness-related staffing issues?
Compensation policies vary by airline and by circumstance. When cancellations are driven by government orders or public health conditions, carriers often focus on rebooking or refunds rather than additional financial compensation. Travelers should review each airline’s contract of carriage and speak directly with customer service about available options.

Q10. What should I watch for in the coming days if I am flying with Alaska Airlines?
Passengers should keep an eye on flight status updates, be ready for possible gate or time changes, and arrive with some flexibility where possible. While Alaska aims to protect its core schedules, ongoing high illness levels among flight attendants mean that minor adjustments and occasional cancellations remain possible as the airline navigates this challenging period.