Holiday travel at San Francisco airport being affected by winter weather
With rain and wind in the forecast, it may make some people's holiday travel a little more difficult.
At San Francisco International Airport, more than 400 flights have been delayed. Maggie Nelson's was delayed coming into the airport.
"It seemed like everyone was in a panic or a hurry to get anywhere," said Nelson. "The plane was crowded. There was a lot of turbulence."
Nelson flew in from Redmond, Oregon, usually a quick flight to SFO, just under two hours, but she ended up being delayed nearly that long.
"Originally, we were supposed to take off at 2 p.m. and then our flight got delayed to 2:50 p.m., and then it got delayed again," Nelson explained. "I don't think we took off until 3:30 p.m. because of high winds or something."
California is in the middle of an intense storm period. Two systems bringing heavy rain and strong winds, and Nelson could feel all of it.
"The turbulence was pretty bad," said Nelson. "There was a point where I got nauseous. I was like 'Are we there yet? Is this over?'"
While she's grateful to be on solid ground, Shon Alkaslasi was about to take off or at least try to.
"United sent a text that wind might affect operations," said Alkaslasi.
He arrived early, just in case of holiday traffic, now he's anticipating he may be delayed. He's travelling home to Los Angeles, another area in the middle of the storms.
"I would say I'm not the biggest fan of turbulence so I am a little bit nervous about that," Alkaslaski detailed. "But if they say it's totally safe to travel, I'm not usually concerned but the feeling of bumps on a plane is just not the most comfortable and I'll have to deal with it."
Airport Duty Manager Crystal David said overall things haven't been too bad, but West Coast flights, like Alkaslasi's and Nelson's, are the ones most likely to be impacted.
"SFO is on a ground delay program throughout the night, through midnight and so right now it's about 127 minutes because of winds," said David. "Mostly it's the west coast flights are that are being affected right now with delays of up to 35 minutes for the west coast traffic."
She said the delays could continue into the morning, when even stronger winds are expected. She recommends travelers check in with their airlines.
But for Nelson, she's just glad she made it home.
"I used to live a lot closer so it's a lot harder to come home now so when I do get to come home, I try to take advantage of that and appreciate it," said Nelson.