Thousands of travelers arrive back at RDU after Labor Day weekend trips

MORRISVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- Thousands of people are using Labor Day to travel back from weekend trips. ABC11 checked in at RDU on Monday to talk to passengers arriving back in the Tar Heel state.

Flights from all over the world made their way back to the capital city today, most without a delay or cancellation

Lisa Avery and Kimberly McGee got in from New York this morning

"Coming from New York City we had a ball; it was the International Salsa Congress and our travel was wonderful," Avery said.

They're no rookies and took their time planning this trip on what they knew would be a busy travel weekend

"Slower coming in I think than when we left, but we left at a different time so yeah...we left on Thursday, so we left before the rush, and then we intentionally booked early so that we would avoid the rush," McGee explained.

Their travel weekend was a success, but not everybody had such a great experience.

"It's really really busy. They had thousands of people waiting, I mean it took us hours to get on that plane," said Ronisha Shead, who also lost her baggage.

"I'm frustrated because I normally never check my bag, especially when it's so busy, and people are flying and they're understaffed and all these weird things are happening," she said.

She left empty handed Monday but is hopeful she will see her more valuable items again soon.

"I have some cute Steve madden in that bag that I want back," she explained.

RDU expected to see more than 150,000 passengers this weekend. That's up from the 128,000 that traveled last year. The official numbers for the weekend have not yet been released yet.