After almost eight hours of closure due to a crash Friday morning, the San Luis Obispo County Airport reopened around 5 p.m. Travelers say that the delays have had huge impacts on their Memorial Day weekend plans.
"I'm actually traveling to go to my cousin's graduation," said Diane Garcia, who's from Cambria, "and I'm going to miss it."
"I just want to get back to see my wife," said Richard Manz, who was flying to San Diego to meet his wife for their 28th wedding anniversary.
Others who live in the area went home to wait out the closure.
"We were just monitoring our phone," said Annie Taylor, a mother taking her young son on his first plane trip. "Luckily for him, he got to get some extra nap time in, so hopefully we are calm and ready to go."
"We live in Santa Maria, so we just went back home and did a few things," said Eric Macksoud, a Santa Maria Resident. "Then on our way back out here, we're going out, it was delayed again."
Flights were delayed a couple of times on this busy Memorial Day weekend, but after a long wait, the first flight took off out of SLO County Airport at 5:24 Friday night — 5 hours after its initially scheduled time.
"We missed our connecting flight," said Andrea Sanchez, a traveler from San Luis Obispo.
Hilary Anderson was waiting for her son, who she says has been away on a missionary trip in Madagascar for two years, the delay pushing back the long-awaited reunion.
"He left reunion in Madagascar yesterday morning, flew to Paris, and then flew to San Francisco and then to here," said Anderson. "So, about 30 hours."
People waiting on flights weren't the only ones at the airport. A volunteer and her therapy dog came to help put fliers at ease as they waited.
"They were happy to have the dog," said Lanie Demicco, a volunteer with SBPaws. "I think if I brought a goldfish bowl and they would've been happy, you know, a distraction. But they were really good."
