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Thousands of international passengers stranded for hours on planes and in packed holding areas at Los Angeles International Airport on Saturday have now cleared customs. But officials have not explained what caused a computer malfunction that left them unable to process the travelers' entry into the country.

Airport on Saturday, waiting on airplanes and in packed customs halls while a malfunctioning computer system prevented U.S. officials from processing the travelers' entry into the country.

Editor's note: Have you been affected by delays at LAX recently? Share your story on our Travel Message Boards.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection system went down around 2 p.m., forcing some planes to sit on the tarmac for so long that workers had to refuel them to keep their power units and air conditioning running. Maintenance workers ran trucks around the airport hooking up tubes to service lavatories.

Just after midnight Saturday, Tom Winfrey, a spokesman for Los Angeles World Airports, said the computer system was up and running. Processing passengers through customs took several hours after that.

At 3:50 a.m., customs cleared the last seven people -- one passenger in a wheelchair and six crew members -- all from the last flight to arrive early today during the backlog: Mexicana Airlines Flight 922 from Guadalajara, Mexico.

Passengers scheduled to depart from LAX today were urged to check with their airlines before going to the airport, but Winfrey said operations were largely back to normal. He said "a handful of flights" were likely to depart late today because of late arrivals Saturday but that no flight cancellations were expected.

Airport and customs officials offered conflicting numbers of how many people were delayed by the computer malfunction. Winfrey said about 11,000 people were directly affected; customs officials put the number at 20,000. Six travelers were ultimately detained because of passport or agriculture questions.

"This is probably one of the worst days we've had. I've been with the agency for 30 years and I've never seen the system go down and stay down for as long as it did," said Peter Gordon, acting port director for customs.

The delays also jammed airport parking lots. As of 3 a.m., some lots were still completely gridlocked. The congestion was so bad that at 3:30 a.m., customs spokesman Michael D. Fleming said he had opted to stay at the airport rather than try to head home to Irvine.

The computer system maintains a list of people who should be subject to secondary searches upon entering the country, Fleming explained. "The vast majority of people" do not pose a security threat, "but it only takes one," he said. "Obviously a lot of innocent folks have been detained, and it is regrettable."

The malfunction affected only LAX, and customs officials said early in the evening that they were willing to divert flights to LA/Ontario International Airport, San Diego International Airport/Lindbergh Field or McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. In the end, Fleming said, two flights were rerouted: An Alaska Airlines flight landed in San Diego and a Spirit Airlines flight from Mexico landed at Ontario.

The delays rivaled the worst incidents of last winter, when severe weather left thousands of passengers languishing for up to nine hours on American Airlines and JetBlue planes. Sals Farsi, 39, his wife and three children spent seven hours waiting to get off a flight from Cabo San Lucas late Saturday night. They said they were given formula for their 6-month-old after the captain radioed the terminal for it. "This was crazy," he said.

When passengers emerged from planes tired and bleary eyed, they found most restaurants in the Bradley terminal closed or running low on food. The few restaurants still open had long lines of 30 to 40 people waiting.

Paul Gysels, 60, of San Francisco, was loading up on beef jerky and chocolate bars at a newsstand. He had just spent five hours on the tarmac after a flight from La Paz.

Even after he got off the flight, his troubles continued. He learned he had missed the last flight from L.A. to San Francisco. Nevertheless, he was determined to get home as soon as possible. "Nobody's going to make it out of L.A. before me," he said.

When Riverside resident Gladys Garcia, 33, learned she would be stuck on her plane from Puerto Vallarta for hours, she wanted to get word to her husband, who she knew would be waiting at the airport. "As soon as we landed, I called him to tell him to go home," she said. She was supposed to arrive at 8:20 p.m. but was not allowed off the plane until 1:40 a.m. She said she passed the time by watching "Shrek 3" and "Spider-Man 3."

In the inspection area inside the Bradley terminal, an estimated 1,000 passengers quickly emptied the vending machines, and no water was available for at least four hours, according to an airport employee. By the time water arrived, children and elderly passengers were lying on the floor showing signs of dehydration. Water fountains were not accessible due to renovations in the terminal, and the only air conditioning was provided by three industrial fans with limited range, he said.

At least five passengers received medical treatment from the Los Angeles City Fire Department, and three were transported to local hospitals, officials said.

The problematic computer system serves five LAX terminals that handle incoming international flights, said Nancy Castles, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles World Airports.

By 10 p.m., customs officials estimated that 8,100 people were waiting on planes. Computers were functioning normally at three smaller terminals, but at Bradley, a backup system was running well below normal capacity.

Customs officials were processing about 1,500 incoming passengers an hour; normally, they process 2,800.

By late evening, officials moved some passengers to domestic terminals to be processed through customs.

Airlines send customs lists of all passengers bound for the U.S. on international flights, and the federal agency combs through those lists to see if any travelers have been flagged by the Department of Homeland Security for special screening. With the computers down, customs had no access to those lists, Fleming said.

Lancelot Barker, captain of Alaska Airlines Flight 211 from Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, Mexico, said in an interview by cellphone that the passengers on his plane were still on board an hour and a half after it had arrived at 6:30 p.m. His plane was parked near a gate, and it was not allowed to open its doors, he said.

Barker said his flight attendants had already run out of food on the flight and would soon run out of water.

"People are just swapping stories, wandering around the aisles," Barker said. "A lot of cellphones are out. People are trying to find out what other people have heard."

By keeping passengers on the plane, said American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith, "at least we can offer them beverages and water, rather than just standing in line."

As late as 10:20 p.m., passengers arriving on an Eva Air flight from Mumbai were told they would probably have to stay on the tarmac for up to five hours, according to a passenger who e-mailed The Times from the plane.

Inside the chaotic Bradley terminal, hundreds of people waited to meet incoming passengers. Dozens of limousine drivers held up signs, looking exhausted. Those waiting expressed frustration that they had received little information about the delay.

Barbara and Mark Poliquin of San Juan Capistrano were among a throng of relatives waiting for more than 30 members of Orange County Boy Scout Troop 411, which had attended the World Boy Scout convention in London.

It was troop member Benjamin Poliquin's 15th birthday, so his mother held multicolored balloons inscribed "Happy Birthday" and "Welcome Home."

The Poliquins were told they would have to wait at least four hours beyond the flight's 6:30 p.m. arrival time.

"We're very happy there's a Daily Grill here," said Barbara Poliquin.

Shortly before 7 p.m., passenger Shaheen Chowdurij emerged with his wife and two children. They had arrived about 1:30 p.m. on Singapore Airlines and waited 90 minutes on the tarmac.

After deplaning, they waited for another half an hour in a small room before authorities allowed all U.S. passport holders to exit through customs.

But the Chowdurijs, Houston residents who had been vacationing in Singapore, missed their connection to Texas. Told that the next available connection was Sunday morning at 7:20, they left to find a hotel.

"I wish this would not have happened," said Shaheen Chowdurij, 43. "But they did the best they could."

Customs employees extended their shifts to help process passengers.

Throughout the afternoon and evening, said American Airlines' Smith, the system was "very, very slow or not working at all."

This is not the first time the computer system has malfunctioned, but it is certainly the longest, Fleming said.

Times staff writers Karen Kaplan and Margot Roosevelt contributed to this report.

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