Fog was creating a travel nightmare Friday at the San Diego International Airport as travelers wrapped up the New Year's Eve holiday. By Saturday afternoon, many flights have resumed their schedules, but delays persist.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop Thursday night for SAN, which created a domino effect of delays and cancellations that continued to affect travelers on Friday morning as fog continued to blanket the San Diego's coastline.
"Flights are currently delayed by 90 minutes," SAN spokesperson Nicole Hall said on Friday. "Flights are currently arriving and departing but with impact of last night’s ground delay and this morning’s we anticipate delays throughout the rest of today as we get caught up."
Hall advised travelers to check their flight status before heading to the airport.
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While many flights were back on schedule Saturday morning, SAN's website is still dotted in red, denoting delayed flights. FlightAware, an unofficial flight tracking website, was showing about 80 delays and 2 cancellations by noon Saturday.
Thursday's ground stop came amid a dense fog advisory for San Diego County's coastal areas, which was in effect until 10 a.m. Friday. Some areas had visibility reduced to a quarter-mile, according to NBC 7 Meteorologist Brooke Martell.
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The airport's holiday travel period continues until Sunday, which means they estimate about 80,000 people leaving and landing at SAN daily between now and then.
A Canadian family were some of the hundreds affected by delays on Friday. The Gendreau family was set to fly out at 7:15 a.m. but will be stranded at the airport until at least 1 p.m.
"We found out this morning when we arrived because all my reservations were done on my phone and it was turned off because I’m Canadian in the U.S. so I didn’t get any notification before we went here," Alain Gendreau said "We don’t have any choice. So choose your battle. There’s nothing we can do."
This is a developing story that will be updated as more information arrives.
