Just as the holiday travel season was kicking into gear, thick fog contributed to numerous flight delays Friday at San Diego International Airport (SAN).
"Travel Alert: If you're coming to SAN this morning, please be aware we're experiencing some flight delays due to fog," airport officials posted on social media shortly after 8 a.m. "Check with your airline before leaving for the airport."
According to the flight-tracking website FlightAware, there were nearly 315 delayed flights — incoming and outgoing — at the airport as of 4:20 p.m. Friday, and 106 cancellations. It was unknown how many of those were directly related to the heavy fog.
Carter Kraus took advantage of the delays to get some work done. He was supposed to fly home to Seattle for holidays at 7 a.m., but his flight was repeatedly pushed back.
“Now my flight’s been pushed back to 3 p.m.," he said. "I changed again to an earlier flight, that one got pushed back to 4 p.m., I changed to an earlier flight to 3 p.m.. So that’s where we’re at.”
Ethan Jacques was also supposed to fly out at 7 a.m. Friday. He was in town for a work conference. He was luckier than Kraus; his flight was scheduled to leave at 12:30 p.m.
“I’m very tired because I woke up very early this morning and dealt with all the like ticket changes and stuff," he said. "So I could have just slept in and not be tired.”
Airport officials said Friday is expected to be the busiest travel day of the holiday season. Through Jan. 5, an estimated 1.3 million passengers are expected to travel through San Diego International. That's roughly 80,000 people per day.
Airport spokesperson Nicole Hall said to expect delays and she recommends planning ahead before heading to the airport.
“If you have a flight, make sure you check your flight schedule. Make sure your flight's on time," she said. "We've had a number of delays due to weather which is impacting already and anticipate a busy travel season.”
The holiday travel season will officially kick off on Saturday. Nearly 10 million Southern California residents are anticipated to travel 50 miles or more from home between Saturday and Jan. 1, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California, the Southern California affiliate of the American Automobile Association federation of motor clubs.
