TIJUANA (Border Report) — On Friday night and into Saturday morning, the Tijuana airport suspended takeoffs and landings due to heavy fog in the area.
Airline personnel struggled to find alternative flights for holiday travelers who had missed their connections. This created a domino effect, as more and more passengers arrived only to be told their flights were delayed or canceled as well.


The delays would last for four days, angering and frustrating passengers like Maricruz Santos.
“I feel sick, I want to explode, I need to blow up at someone,” Santos said.
She was traveling to Mexico City to visit family and for a relative’s surgery.

“Four days here. My brother had surgery scheduled for today, but no one listens, no one helps,” Santos said.
To make matters worse for Santos, she said the airline lost her bags and couldn’t find an alternative way out until she recovered her luggage.
“If they couldn’t send me, why did they send my bags? I’m stuck,” Santos said.
Airport management and the airlines blamed the weather for delays, but passengers like Santos weren’t buying it because the fog lifted late Saturday morning.
“For three flights, they sent us upstairs to the gates, only to be turned back because the flights never existed,” Santos said.
After four days, airport management said close to 200 flights had been canceled, leaving 34,000 passengers stranded at the Tijuana airport.
By late Tuesday morning, flights were landing and taking off on time and the terminals were clearly less crowded.
We don’t know whether Santos finally made it to Mexico City.