{"id":282433,"date":"2026-05-24T00:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T00:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/282433\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T00:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T00:15:08","slug":"rsw-passengers-face-hours-long-delays-over-memorial-day-weekend-lee-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/282433\/","title":{"rendered":"RSW passengers face hours-long delays over Memorial Day weekend | Lee County"},"content":{"rendered":"

FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK) \u2014 Memorial Day weekend flight delays at Southwest Florida International Airport<\/a> turned vacation endings into extended waits for travelers hoping to return home.<\/p>\n

WINK News reporter Paul Dolan spoke with passengers at RSW, where a flight board full of delays changed weekend plans. According to AAA<\/a>, a record 45 million people were expected to travel during Memorial Day weekend.<\/p>\n

Jacob West faced a six-hour delay that significantly disrupted his plans.<\/p>\n

“It’s gonna significantly, you know, mess up my weekend plans here,” West said. “Six-hour delays, obviously not ideal.”<\/p>\n

\"flight<\/p>\n

The delay forced West to reconsider his immediate plans.<\/p>\n

“It’s tough to wrap my head around, honestly,” West said. “I’m gonna have to hit a bar or something, not quite sure, but we’re gonna have to make do here.”<\/p>\n

Other travelers experienced shorter delays. Doug, another passenger, discovered his flight was delayed by 30 minutes and had to contact his pickup.<\/p>\n

One teacher visiting with her mother focused on the positive aspects of their annual trip.<\/p>\n

“Once a year, my mom and I come down here and just relax and go to the beach,” she said. “That’s the main focus, relaxation.”<\/p>\n

West, who left Marco Island that morning, expressed frustration with the frequency of air travel disruptions.<\/p>\n

\"arrivals<\/p>\n

“When air travel is run smoothly, it’s great, but obviously when it doesn’t, it’s a big pain,” West said. “It seems like this happens more often than not, where it doesn’t go smoothly, unfortunately.”<\/p>\n

Longtime traveler Norma Tolley offered advice for handling airport delays.<\/p>\n

“I’ve had delays,” Tolley said. “If you’re there, you just gotta keep calm and do what you have to do.”<\/p>\n

West acknowledged that the delay marked an abrupt end to his vacation.<\/p>\n

“It’s definitely a rude awakening,” West said. “I’m back into the real world now, I guess.”<\/p>\n

RSW<\/a> officials recommend arriving early and being prepared before going through security to move through the airport quickly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK) \u2014 Memorial Day weekend flight delays at Southwest Florida International Airport turned vacation endings…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,75415,1521,10256],"class_list":["post-282433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-memorial-day","tag-southwest-florida","tag-southwest-florida-international-airport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}