Customs glitch: air passengers stranded for hours

WEARY international passengers were stuck at Los Angeles International Airport for several hours, unable to set foot in the US after a computer failure prevented customs officials from screening arrivals.

More than 20,000 international passengers, both Americans and foreigners, sat in four airport terminals and in 60 planes starting at about 2pm on Saturday (10pm Irish time) when the computer system broke down, said Los Angeles world airports spokesman Paul Haney.

A major switch in the system, which contains names of arriving passengers and law enforcement data about them, including arrest warrants, had failed and had to be replaced, said Mike Fleming, a US customs spokesman.