Travelers not happy about having their wings clipped

Twice a year, Lewiston resident La Verne Haines boards a plane to visit one of her sons in Malibu, Calif.

The retired farmer calls one of her friends, who gives her a ride to the Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport. That way Haines doesn't have to leave her car in a parking lot while she's gone.

Since the airport is within 10 minutes of her home, it's not difficult for her to ask for the favor. The next time she books a flight, Haines expects her options will be greatly limited.

Alaska Airlines, parent company of Horizon Air, announced two weeks ago it will end its Lewiston flights, to Seattle and Boise, on Aug. 25. That will leave SkyWest's Salt Lake City flights as the only service in Lewiston.

"I'm going to miss it terribly," Haines said.

Haines is not alone. Residents of the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley have been expressing their frustration with the airline's decision on social media and by adding their names to a petition. (See information box.) Alaska has indicated it won't reconsider, regardless of how many people express their support.

That means the challenges Haines now faces will be repeated with many businesses and families as people worry about the prosperity of the community.

"It's going to be harder for companies to look at us for growth," said Bernie Schneider, branch manager of United Rentals in Lewiston.

As much as Schneider loves the area, the lifelong Lewiston-Clarkston Valley resident understands limited air service could fuel the reluctance of businesses to expand here.

About once a month, he sends employees to the Seattle area for training. The Lewiston service has made it possible for employees to work a full day, board an evening Seattle flight, attend a training the next day and board a flight just hours after the training is completed.

It was a little more expensive than flying from Spokane, but the gain in employee productivity outweighed the extra expense, Schneider said.

The Boise service gave him more options for business travel to Boise or San Jose, he said.

With the reduction in service, he will likely just send employees to Spokane because it offers more flight times to Seattle than Pullman's airport does, Schneider said.

Longer road times will be even tougher for people suffering from serious illnesses or recovering from severe accidents, said Staci Baldwin, president of Jackson's Pay it Forward Foundation, which supports families with ill children.

"It could lead to a tragic result," said Baldwin, expressing worry for how people would fare on snowy highways as they traveled to out-of-town airports.

Typically only the sickest patients receive care in Seattle after referrals from specialists in Lewiston and Spokane said Baldwin, who also serves on the Lewiston School Board.

Her son Jackson Baldwin was among those who received care in Seattle, before he succumbed to cancer at the age of 10. He was so nauseated and weak during that stage of his illness that he barely had the energy for the quick car ride to the Lewiston airport, Baldwin said. She stayed with Jackson for weeks in Seattle, and the Lewiston-Seattle flight made it easier for family to join them when they could get away from work and school.

"If I was still in (that) situation, I would be panicking, thinking how are we going to manage this? ...You can't plan the time of the year when you're having to do that travel," Baldwin said.

About half of the 30 families the foundation helps each year are in similar circumstances, figuring out how to keep their families together while a child is hospitalized in Seattle, she said.

"It was really a sad day for me when I heard. I think it's going to be a hardship for a lot of families," Baldwin said.

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Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.

A petition asking Horizon Air to keep its Lewiston service to Seattle and Boise is available at www.care2.com. The petition can be located by typing "bring flights back to Lewiston" into the search box.