With wildfires continuing to burn in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles, 
United Airlines
has issued a travel waiver to help affected customers. The waiver is for passengers booked on UA flights out of Hollywood Burbank Airport
(BUR) and Los Angeles International Airport
(LAX) between January 7th and 9th.
United Airlines issues travel waiver amid LA wildfires
The carrier’s waiver will let impacted travelers reschedule their journey until January 15th. This will be offered to travelers out of United’s LAX hub, from which it serves 40 nonstop destinations, and Burbank, which UA connects to Denver and San Francisco.
The waiver will allow itinerary changes with no change fee or difference in fare, provided customers book the same origin and destination and in the same cabin class – ARC/BSP travel agents are also permitted to book these changes on behalf of their customers. Importantly, this waiver does not permit passengers to rebook from an alternative point of departure.
Photo: Wenjie Zheng | Shutterstock
Some flights into Burbank were forced to divert to LAX due to smoke emanating from the fires. Newsweek reported on two such flights – a United Airlines service from Denver and an American Airlines flight from Dallas/Fort Worth – landing in LAX in the night as passengers filmed the inferno below.
Other flights have been impacted, too, including a Southwest flight that ended up diverting to Las Vegas, and pilots have reported increase turbulence due to the high wind speeds.
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
Apparently, passengers could smell the smoke in the cabin as the aircraft began to descend, forcing pilots to reroute and land at LAX. One passenger, Tai Wright, told Newsweek,
“We were making our descent at the time of the photos. Right after taking them, the heat inside the aircraft started to rise, and the smoke smell filled the cabin.”
Multiple aircraft have been busy waterbombing the fires, with Flightradar24 data showing almost a dozen active aircraft at one point.
Fire moves closer to LA
The Palisades fire has currently burned through around 3,000 acres of land, with approximately 50,000 people ordered to evacuate the area. Many news outlets warn that the fire threatens to spread to other areas overnight, including Santa Monica and other areas of West Los Angeles.
Los Angeles International is situated just a few miles south of Santa Monica – should the fire spread even further into LA, operations at LAX are likely to be significantly impacted.
Photo: Michael Gordon | Shutterstock
Emergency services are currently battling three main fires in the Pacific Palisades, Eaton and Hurst – the latter two are smaller than the Palisades, but winds of up to 100mph are fueling their growth. With around 24,000 residents, the Pacific Palisades is one of LA’s most affluent communities, home to many high-profile celebrities. Approximately 300,000 residents in LA County have also been left without power.
Along with hundreds of volunteer firefighters heading down to LA to assist, California Governor Gavin Newsom said the state has deployed over 1,400 firefighters to tackle the “unprecedented fires” in the area, adding,
“Emergency officials, firefighters, and first responders are all hands on deck through the night to do everything possible to protect lives.”
Some reports claim that water levels are running low, impeding firefighting efforts. High winds have unfortunately made the fire essentially uncontainable, with the Los Angeles County Fire Department stating that the Palisades fire is “2921 acres 0% containment.”
