I'm guessing they were referring head-to-head operations at SAN. There are situations where landing aircraft must use the Runway 9 approach (i.e., landing from the west - whereas typically they land from the east on Rwy 27 at SAN due to the usual prevailing winds) due to weather conditions and the lower approach minimums available for Rwy 9.

Normally takeoffs would also occur in the same direction as landings. Yet some aircraft are unable to depart towards the east because the terrain necessitates a climb gradient that is too high for their weight and performance capability in that instance. So those departures take off towards the west (opposite the general flow of traffic in this case).