Alaska Airlines bag-handler shortage creates holiday havoc

An unexpected shortage of Alaska Airlines baggage handlers at Seattle-Tacoma International starting Friday caused luggage problems, flight delays and other stress for thousands of customers during one of the busiest travel times of the year, according to the airline and airport. Meantime, holiday travellers have taken to social media to roast the airline, complaining about hours long waits on the tarmac, missed connections, missing bags and other frustrations. An Alaska spokesman said Saturday that as many as 6,000 travellers have been affected, with about 40 arriving airplanes delayed from getting to gates by 1 to 3 hours. A Sea-Tac Airport spokesman said Saturday the problems were confined to Alaska. “It was really about the one airline. Operations weren’t affected for the rest of the airport or any of the other airlines.” <br/>