Alaska
Alaska Airlines And Others Hasten Maui Fire Relief – Beat of Hawaii
Hawaii community advocate Alaska Airlines has stepped up its efforts to help in the devastating Lahaina fire. They just announced that “Alaska Airlines is closely monitoring the devastating impacts from the Maui wildfires and continues to operate eight daily departures from the island. To help people leave the island, we stood up a rescue flight, which departed from our Seattle Cargo facility this morning. The flight was filled with relief supplies, including water, non-perishable food, pillows, blankets, towels, wipes, baby formula, and diapers. The aircraft will bring guests back to Seattle early tomorrow morning.” Kudos to Alaska for helping.
Alaska also said it is trying to determine how best to help next. “The carrier said it is “assessing” the addition of more rescue flights to help people flee. “What we’re seeing in Hawaii is devastating, and we’re monitoring the situation closely.”
Not alone in their efforts, every airline with flights to Hawaii is determining how best to help Maui immediately and in the long run.
Other airline initiatives currently underway include:
As we were first to report yesterday, American Airlines and United Airlines have been ferrying empty jets to Hawaii to use the planes to evacuate visitors on Maui back to the mainland. We note that United Airlines has again canceled ten incoming flights to Maui, reflecting those efforts.
Perhaps they will bring emergency supplies on their flights to further assist with what’s needed, although we saw no statements to that effect.
American Airlines also brought empty planes to Maui yesterday. But today, we are not sure if that’s still the case. They are likely empty, given that the state has requested a pause on all non-essential travel to Maui. American has also added another flight to Phoenix today and upguaging another flight from narrow-body to widebody to assist with rapid evacuation.
Delta Airlines says it is also sending in supplies.
The company said the supplies it is sending are initially to assist their employees and customers stranded there. They, too, said they are “evaluating how we can best further these efforts.”
Yesterday’s departures from Maui exceeded 11,000 visitors. Today, perhaps 15,000.
It isn’t clear how many will also be departing today. However, we suspect it will be even more as shuttle buses from Kaanapali are shuttling passengers to Kahului Airport. Guests have left their rental cars in place at their lodging, and many report leaving without their belongings.
Southwest Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines add to airlift.
Both airlines, which have both national and interisland flights, have added and will add more flights as needed to assist with evacuating travelers from Maui. Flight prices have been reduced to as little as $19 to help with the effort.
Photo credit from Alaska Airlines today loading supplies in Seattle for Maui.
Alaska
Flight attendant sacked for twerking on the job: ‘What’s wrong with a little twerk before work’
They deemed the stunt not-safe-for-twerk.
An Alaska Airlines flight attendant who was sacked for twerking on camera has created a GoFundMe to support her while she seeks a new berth.
The crewmember, named Nelle Diala, had filmed the viral booty-shaking TikTok video on the plane while waiting two hours for the captain to arrive, A View From the Wing reported.
She captioned the clip, which also blew up on Instagram, “ghetto bih till i D-I-E, don’t let the uniform fool you.”
Diala was reportedly doing a victory dance to celebrate the end of her new hire probationary period.
Unfortunately, her jubilation was short-lived as Alaska Airlines nipped her employment in the bum just six months into her contract.
The fanny-wagging flight attendant feels that she didn’t do anything wrong.
Diala has since reposted the twerking clip with the new caption: “Can’t even be yourself anymore, without the world being so sensitive. What’s wrong with a little twerk before work, people act like they never did that before.”
The new footage was hashtagged #discriminationisreal.
The disgraced stewardess even set up a GoFundMe page to help support the so-called “wrongfully fired” flight attendant until she can land a new flight attendant gig.
“I never thought a single moment would cost me everything,” wrote the ex-crewmember. “Losing my job was devastating.”
She claimed that the gig had allowed her to meet new people and see the world, among other perks.
While air hostessing was ostensibly a “dream job,” Diala admitted that she used the income to help fund her “blossoming lingerie and dessert businesses,” which she runs under the Instagram handles @cakezncake (which doesn’t appear to have any content?) and @figure8.lingerie.
As of Wednesday morning, the crowdfunding campaign has raised just $182 of its $12,000 goal.
Diala was ripped online for twerking on the job as well as her subsequent GoFundMe efforts.
“You don’t respect the uniform, you don’t respect your job then,” declared one critic on the popular aviation-focused Instagram page The Crew Lounge. “Terms and Conditions apply.”
“‘Support for wrongly fired flight attendant??’” mocked another. “Her GoFund title says it all. She still thinks she was wrongly fired. Girl you weren’t wrongly fired. Go apply for a new job and probably stop twerking in your uniform.”
“The fact that you don’t respect your job is one thing but doing it while in uniform and at work speaks volumes,” scoffed a third. “You’re the brand ambassador and it’s not a good look.”
Alaska
As Alaska sees a spike in Flu cases — another virus is on the rise in the U.S.
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTUU) – Alaska has recently seen a rise in both influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, better known as RSV. Amidst the spike in both illnesses, norovirus has also been on the rise in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says it’s highly contagious and hand sanitizers don’t work well against it.
Current data for Alaska shows 449 influenza cases and 262 RSV cases for the week of Jan. 4. Influenza predominantly impacts the Kenai area, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, and the Northwest regions of the state. RSV is also seeing significant activity in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and Anchorage.
Both are respiratory viruses that are treatable, but norovirus — which behaves like the stomach flu according to the CDC — is seeing a surge at the national level. It “causes acute gastroenteritis, an inflammation of the stomach or intestines,” as stated on the CDC webpage.
This virus is spread through close contact with infected people and surfaces, particularly food.
“Basically any place that people aggregate in close quarters, they’re going to be especially at risk,” said Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent.
Preventing infection is possible but does require diligence. Just using hand sanitizer “does not work well against norovirus,” according to the CDC. Instead, the CDC advises washing your hands with soap and hot water for at least 20 seconds. When preparing food or cleaning fabrics — the virus “can survive temperatures as high as 145°F,” as stated by the CDC.
According to Dr. Gupta, its proteins make it difficult to kill, leaving many cleaning methods ineffective. To ensure a given product can kill the virus, he advises checking the label to see if it claims it can kill norovirus. Gupta said you can also make your own “by mixing bleach with water, 3/4 of a cup of bleach per gallon of water.”
For fabrics, it’s best to clean with water temperatures set to hot or steam cleaning at 175°F for five minutes.
As for foods, it’s best to throw out any items that might have norovirus. As a protective measure, it’s best to cook oysters and shellfish to a temperature greater than 145°F.
Based on Alaska Department of Health data, reported COVID-19 cases are significantly lower than this time last year.
See a spelling or grammatical error? Report it to web@ktuu.com
Copyright 2025 KTVF. All rights reserved.
Alaska
Sky Watch Alaska: planets align plus the aurora forecast
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – This is a great time of year to do some star gazing. If you have clear skies in your part of Alaska, take the time to check out the night — and morning — sky.
After sunset, look toward the southwest. Saturn and Venus are snuggled up together (of course, they are more than 800 million miles apart) in the evening sky. They set at about 9:40 p.m. in Southcentral.
Before 9:40 p.m., you can see four planets with the naked eye — Saturn, Venus, Jupiter and Mars. Jupiter and Mars stick around through the morning. Mars is very close to the moon right now.
The Aurora forecast is fairly weak for the next few weeks. That’s not to say there won’t be the occasional burst but overall, solar activity is expected to be fairly low until the beginning of February.
If you get great pictures of the planets, the sky, or the aurora, don’t forget to send them to Alaska’s News Source.
See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com
Copyright 2025 KTUU. All rights reserved.
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