Nov 20, 2009 6:07 am US/Eastern
Airports Still Feeling The Pain After FAA Glitch
Flight Processing Computer System Running Again; Residual Delays Continue Thursday
By TERRELL BROWN, CBS 2 HD News
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
A computer glitch grounded flights nationwide on Thursday morning, but even after being fixed a short time later, the extensive delays and cancellations continue. Long lines of stranded travelers left many feeling the effects at LaGuardia Airport as they waited for word on their flights.
Arrival and departure screens at airports across the country flashed the same irritating news to travelers: long delays and numerous cancelations.
Runways came to a standstill after a computer glitch that lasted about five hours. Felicity MacDonald's flight from New York to Florida was delayed twice, then cancelled.
"Since there are no planes coming in, there are no planes to take us anywhere so I'm not sure what they're going to do, I may be stuck here," she told CBS 2.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the problem started in Salt Lake City when a single circuit board failed at a computer center. The system stopped automatically processing flight plans which meant air traffic controllers had to manually enter the information.
That added up to big headaches for travelers like Jonathan Dolan, who is trying to visit his sick grandmother in Florida.
"I feel pretty bad, but I'm just glad my flight didn't get cancelled. I'm sure a lot of people here are mad because they're not flying out at all," he said.
Travelers at New York's three major airports were some of the first to feel the glitch, and bad weather didn't help the situation.
But the worst backups hit the world's busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, a hub for both Delta and AirTran Airlines.
This is the second computer problem affecting the nation's flights in the past 15 months.
New York Senator Chuck Schumer said the FAA needs more resources to fix a system that he says is "in shambles."
"If we don't deliver the resources, manpower, and technology the FAA it needs to upgrade the system, these technical glitches that cause cascading delays and chaos across the country are going to become a very regular occurrence," he said in a statement.
For travel information at all three major New York City area airports,
click here.
Please stay tuned to CBS 2 and WCBSTV.com for more on this developing story.
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