9.22.14
Alaska airlines cancelled all flights due to weather, and the airport was closed and probably will be for a month or more. They wouldn’t refund my ticket because it was booked through a travel website. Alaska airlines customer service agents are awful. It felt like I was talking to someone at the DMV, which sets the bar for caring the absolute least for customers.
The travel website won’t refund my ticket until reviewing an email I send them, verifying with Alaska airlines that the flight couldn’t take place, and the upon approval, waiting 40 days to refund me a portion they see appropriate. That sucks, but at least the rep I spoke to was understanding and mildly polite.

This wasn’t the big-screen USA hero-rescue that I thought would take place when there are 26,000 stranded Americans just a 2 hours flight from Southern California.