Skip to main content
News

SFO, Oakland airports report Christmas delays, cancellations

A crowd of people waits at an airport security checkpoint.
With holiday air travel considerably higher in 2023 than 2022, SFO and other Bay Area airports reported some delays and cancellations. | Source: Gina Castro/The Standard

With holiday travel at Bay Area airports surging this season compared to 2022, travelers at San Francisco International Airport were facing several delays and cancellations, according to data from FlightAware.

As of just after 10 a.m., 37 flights were delayed, but none had been canceled.

United Airlines had the most delays with 15, followed by Alaska, SkyWest and Southwest Airlines with two each, and Frontier Airlines and Air Canada with two each. In all, 17 flights coming into SFO were late, while 18 leaving the airport were behind schedule. By 2 p.m., 61 flights were delayed, with 21 from United, 11 from SkyWest, 7 from Southwest and 5 from Alaska.

The other two major San Francisco Bay Area airports were also dealing with delayed arrivals and departures for flights Christmas morning.

READ MORE: SFO, San Jose Airports Ranked Among Best in North America

At Oakland International Airport, 20 flights were delayed and 10 were canceled. Eighteen of the 20 delays and all cancellations were from Southwest, while Delta and Hawaiian Airlines saw the remaining delays. Ten flights were late arriving, while 8 were behind schedule to depart the airport. By 2 p.m., 34 flights were delayed and 11 were canceled, with a lone cancellation from SkyWest.

At San Jose’s Mineta International Airport, 22 flights had been delayed and 1 was canceled, almost all coming from Southwest flights except for 2 from Alaska Airlines and 1 each from Delta and United airlines. By 2 p.m., that number had risen to 27 delays.

The Federal Aviation Administration did not issue a traffic management program for SFO, as arriving flights only saw delays, gate holds and taxi delays lasting 15 minutes or less. A similar program during last Wednesday’s storm system saw delays averaging 59 minutes.