Travelers at San Diego International Airport kept their smiles on despite the challenges, NBC 7’s Rory Devine reports.
Don’t let the sunny skies and summerlike weather at the start of winter fool you: San Diego is being impacted — in the form of flight cancellations and delays — by the winter storms blanketing much of the nation.
Dense fog further delayed or cancelled flights Friday night at San Diego International Airport. The airport encouraged travelers to check in with their airline before showing up for flights. Check your flight status here.
The airport issued a Traffic Management Program for flights arriving Friday night. The average delay time was two hours and 25 minutes, according to the airport.
Kayla Snyder and her significant other know exactly what that means. Thursday morning, the couple made the drive down from Temecula to catch a flight to Houston. Upon their arrival at the San Diego International Airport, they checked their flight status only to find out their flight had been delayed.
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“We figured if there was a chance, and had a small little hunch,” Snyder said. “But you never know what’s going to happen. You just got to take it as it goes.”
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As Snyder was trying to skip town, Natalie Feldkamp was just arriving. Feldkamp flew in from Chicago with her family after a layover in Minneapolis with no delays.
”All went really well, surprisingly,” Feldkamp said. “We were early into Minneapolis and took off on time and got here on time. No delays.”
While travelers are trying to get to their destinations, so are packages.
A FedEx cargo flight also arrived at SAN on Thursday. While it was mostly sunny and mild in San Diego, other planes and even delivery trucks from the carrier are facing weather challenges across other parts of the country.
FedEx sent the following statement to NBC7:
We recognize the importance of deliveries this upcoming holiday weekend. We continue to closely monitor the severe winter weather expected across much of the country and have contingency plans in place to help keep our team members safe and lessen any impact on service. In anticipation of severe weather, we have been repositioning assets so we can provide service where and when it is safe to do so. For information and updates on weather impacts, check https://www.fedex.com/en-us/service-alerts.html. As always, customers with questions about their shipments can visit www.fedex.com.
Other carriers — including UPS, the United States Postal Service and Amazon — are also taking similar approaches.
UPS told NBC7 that the company’s drivers are trained to safely make deliveries, and if they cannot safely deliver to an area, they will resume service as soon as possible. The USPS sent a similar statement, acknowledging that its employees would make every attempt to deliver to all addresses, as long as it’s safe to do so.
Meanwhile, Amazon told NBC 7 that it had fulfilled hundreds of millions of orders this holiday season already and that it continues to monitor the weather conditions.
Back at San Diego International Airport, Sabrina LoPiccolo, a spokeswoman for the airport, told NBC7 that travelers should be prepared for delays from ongoing construction at Terminal 1. Another tip for travelers who plan to drive to the airport and park there: LoPiccolo recommends making a reservation ahead of time to ensure your parking spot is secured.
“Pack your patience,” LoPiccolo said. ”Understand that everyone is trying to get to where they want to go.”
To view arriving and departing flights at San Diego International Airport, click here.
