United Airlines said its flight schedule was starting to recover late Friday from nationwide delays caused by a computer outage.
The airline said that the system-wide problems, which affected computerized reservations and departures, lasted about five hours and were resolved about 10 p.m. Pacific Time.
The airline apologized for the delays and said it would allow passengers on affected flights to cancel or rebook their itineraries without penalty.
Los Angeles International Airport spokeswoman Nancy Castles said that 32 outbound United flights were delayed and that about 2,500 passengers were waiting to board for hours. She said she expected that many of those flights would take off over the next few hours. Inbound flights were not delayed.
As a result of the outage, long lines of passengers formed at check-in counters at Chicago's O'Hare International and Denver International airports, two of United's largest hubs.
The plans of landscape designer Stephanie Hochman, 26, of Denver, to fly to Wichita, Kan., to visit her family were stymied by the outage.
"I was rushing, because I was running a little late," she said. "I kept checking computers to see if the flight was still on time. I thought it was all good, until I got to the airport and saw the people standing around at the checkout counter."
Later, staff at Denver International Airport made an announcement on the loud speakers, saying computers were slowly coming online. A flight to Washington, D.C.'s Dulles International Airport was being prepared for departure.
Nina and Mark Whitford of Brockville, Ontario, were stranded in Chicago during a layover on their flight home from Minneapolis. They said they were headed to a hotel to spend the night and were dismayed when an airline worker told them they would have to mail in their hotel receipt to get reimbursed.
"We've been waiting here for about two hours for our baggage, and nothing's come," said Nina Whitford, 35.
Some people were sleeping and some people were getting very angry because no one was giving us any answers," she said.
Kristen Lovullo, 29, was at the Los Angeles International Airport waiting for a flight to Buffalo, N.Y. She said United employees were passing out water to stranded passengers. She said the mood was mixed.
"Some people are complaining," she said. "Some people said they've standing outside since 5 p.m. (PDT) and they have to go to the bathroom and they're hungry."
Associated Press writer Denise Petski in Los Angeles and photographers Rick Bower in Denver and Charles Arbogast in Chicago contributed to this report.
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