Monday morning started with eight cancellations and 18 delays, by noon that number jumped to 63 delays and 26 cancellations at RDU.
The FAA and Department of Transportation called for a reduction in flights at 40 of the highest traffic airports in the country.
RDU was not on the list, but people traveling to and from are still feeling the impacts.
Some of the frustrated shared their traveling trouble stories with Eyewitness News.
One passenger said she was rerouted to RDU for a flight and that flight was cancelled. She was rebooked, but now she leaves RDU until 7 p.m. Monday.
Another passenger said he had a layover in Charlotte on his American Airline flight. He opted not to deal with the delays and rented a car to get back from Charlotte Douglas to RDU.
Brady Bush and her family also had travel problems. They traveled to Tampa, Florida for a soccer tournament on Thursday right before the flight reductions started.
On the way back home on Sunday, Bush said their flight was delayed.
"We were supposed to fly out last night at 8:00. We waited on the runway for, I think, about 2 hours. There was like 20 planes waiting to take off. So, then we missed our connection flight. So, we spent the night in the Atlanta airport," she explained.
Bush said her family slept at the airport in order to make their early morning flight home. "We didn't know if we were going to be able to get on the next flight because the first flight out was 7:25. So, we didn't know if it was going to be delayed or how long we would be stuck there. So, I mean, it's not that far of a drive, but there were no rental cars. So, it's a six-hour drive, but no cars," Bush shared.
The flight reductions were brought on by the lingering government shutdown. Nearly 13,000 air traffic controllers are working without pay. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffey described air traffic controllers calling out sick, putting a strain on the staff leading to safety concerns in the sky.
A 4% flight reduction started Friday morning. Reductions will ramp up to 6% by Tuesday and 10% by Friday.