Winter weather delays thousands of flights across US, hundreds in SoCal

Holiday travel rush kicks into high gear

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LOS ANGELES - Millions of Americans are expected to travel on Saturday, as the holidays approach, but for those hoping to hit the skies, winter weather across the U.S. has thrown a wrench in to their plans.

The Automobile Club of Southern California predicts that nearly 10 million SoCal residents will be traveling on Saturday, nearly 120 million nationwide.

But the weather hasn't cooperated, delaying tens of thousands of flights only partly into the weekend. In the northeast, in cities like New York and Boston, snow has had huge ramifications on flight times. Here in SoCal, the issue has been fog.

It all started Friday. Nationwide just under 11,000 flights within, into or out of the U.S. were delayed, with San Diego International Airport pushing back 55% of its flights, according to FlightAware. And things haven't gotten much better Saturday, with SAN canceling more than 150 flights in the last 24 hours, as of 3 p.m.

Airlines are issuing travel advisories for Southern California, expecting significant delays at San Diego International Airport, John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, and Long Beach Airport.

By sheer numbers, by far, the most affected airline has been Southwest, with more than 3,000 delays and 200 cancelations between Friday and Saturday.

According to FlightAware's Misery Map, Los Angeles is one of the most heavily affected cities Saturday, between all it's regional airports, while New York is feeling the pain the most.

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