An Alaska Airlines flight from Hawaii to Seattle was forced to turn back after four flight attendants felt unwell and reported an “unidentifiable odor” in the cabin.
Flight AS810 took off from Lihue, Kauai, on Thursday evening, but the Boeing 737-890 soon diverted to Honolulu “out of an abundance of caution” after the crew reported an unknown odor, an Alaska Airlines spokesperson said in a statement to Business Insider.
“After the aircraft safely landed, all four flight attendants were transported to the hospital for evaluation. None of the pilots and guests on board required medical attention,” they said.
The Honolulu Emergency Services Department said that the flight attendants had shown symptoms of “nausea and disturbed coordination” from the smell, per local outlet KHNL.
The carrier said it had worked to get the 119 passengers on other flights to Seattle, adding that the aircraft had been taken out of service and was being “thoroughly inspected” by its maintenance technicians.
It’s not the first time such an incident has occurred on an Alaska Airlines flight.
In June, an Alaska flight from Honolulu to Anchorage was canceled after two crew members reported feeling sick during the flight’s boarding process, USA Today reported.
The airline said it had likely been caused by an “unknown odor,” the report said.
In another incident in March, an Alaska aircraft traveling from Portland to Phoenix turned back when crew members and passengers noticed fumes in the cabin, per NBC Los Angeles.
Melanni Rosales, a spokesperson for the Port of Portland, told the outlet that seven people requested medical evaluations but no one was taken to the hospital.
In 2019, an Alaska flight from Seattle to Orange County, California, also turned around shortly after departure due to a “cabin odor.”
Alaska told BI at the time that the flight’s pilots and flight attendants were medically evaluated at the airport before being taken to the hospital for further evaluation. It said no passengers had been affected or had reported any symptoms.
