Business Brisk at Airport on Monday

The morning after a Boeing 737 overshot a runway and came to rest on a nearby thoroughfare, the Burbank Airport terminal was a testament to the jaded nonchalance of travel-savvy Angelenos.

Some customers in line at the Southwest Airlines ticket counter suggested they were more frightened by driving on the Hollywood Freeway than the thought of their plane ending up on Hollywood Way. Others clung to the conventional wisdom that the safest day to fly is 24 hours after a crash.

“These things happen sometimes. The reality is, we live and drive in Los Angeles,” said Larry Dahl, 43, of Simi Valley.

“Southwest isn’t the only airline to have had problems,” said Susan Mariet of Valencia, adding that she would still take the airline to Oakland.

But it was all a little too much for Thaleen Barnes, 57, of Studio City.

She was supposed to fly to Phoenix on Sunday night, but her flight was canceled after the accident. On Monday she showed up again, but was worried that Southwest officials hadn’t gotten their act together.

“There’s turmoil in there,” she said as she sat outside waiting for a ride. “First they told us we had to reroute to LAX. Then they told us to go get a travel voucher. Then they said the flight was canceled and we’d have to come [Monday]. Now it’s late. I’m going home, it’s too much chaos.”

About half of Southwest Airlines’ arrivals and departures were delayed Monday, but officials said the problems had nothing to do with the crash.

“There have been delays today, primarily because of thunderstorms in the Phoenix area,” said airport spokesman Victor Gill. There were also delays for flights from and to Las Vegas, San Jose, Sacramento, El Paso, Reno and other cities.

“These things can have a ripple effect,” Gill said.

Southwest spokeswoman Sonja O’Neill said any plane that went through Phoenix on Monday was delayed. She downplayed the disruptions, saying that “all of our flights originating out of Burbank left on time.” She added that there were no indications that passengers canceled flights because of Sunday’s mishap.

Frank Morreale, 70, was delayed an hour on his way from Phoenix to Burbank. But he said he had no worries about the flight.

“That was a good flight--the landing was especially smooth,” he said. “No apprehensions.”

Many Southwest planes were packed to the bulkheads because of spillover from Sunday night’s canceled flights. Gene McPherson, an executive of an Internet company in the Silicon Valley, said she had to wait two hours for a standby flight to San Jose because all the seats were booked.

Despite all the scheduling problems, Gill said Burbank Airport did brisk business Monday, with about 300 arrivals and departures--a normal day at the airport.

Over on Hollywood Way, a crowd of cabbies watched as a crane pulled the jet back onto the airfield. Several of them complained that the runway was too close to the gas station where they often gather.

“I’ve always thought this might happen,” said Sarkis Kalalonyan, a 46-year-old cab driver. “When we’re over here, they come very fast and you think, ‘What will happen if the brakes are no good?’ ”

Don Wilson, a 44-year-old Burbank television producer, dropped his daughters off at the airport Sunday night for a flight to Oakland. Their flight was subsequently canceled. “They didn’t want to fly anyway,” he said. “They were too freaked out.”

But they were back the next day.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

On the Runway at Burbank Airport

Investigators are focusing on the possibility of pilot error as a cause of the Boeing 737 accident Sunday. Officials said the 737 may have landed too long, not touching down until the midpoint of the 6,032-foot runway.

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Sources: Boeing Co.; Jane’s Aircraft; Capt. John Russell, Air Line Pilots Assn.

Researched by JOHNATHON E. BRIGGS and RON WEAVER