LONDON (AP) -- An air traffic control problem disrupted travel across Britain on Tuesday, canceling more than 1,000 flights and leaving passengers stranded for hours on airport runways and in terminals, according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24.
Britain's National Air Traffic Services said it had resolved a problem in its flight processing system in the evening, but delays rippled across 15 U.K. airports and beyond as airlines and airports worked to clear a huge backlog of delayed flights.
Departures at London Heathrow resumed but the busy airport suspended arrivals for the rest of the night because of the disruption and warned of further delays.
As of Wednesday afternoon London time, about 21% of flights into and 26% of flights out of London Heathrow were delayed, according to live flight delay and cancellation stats from FlightAware.
Josie Donoghue spent three hours stuck on a plane at Gatwick before her Ryanair flight to Ireland was canceled.
"Getting through that airport was like trying to get out of Alcatraz," she said, referring to the notorious former island prison in San Francisco Bay. "It's just an absolute nightmare down there. It's the only word I can use to describe it."
Passengers on a British Airways flight that had been due to fly to Baltimore disembarked after four hours on the ground at Heathrow. During the long delay, flight attendants served pasta and chicken curry while patient passengers watched movies or strolled up and down the aisles.
But passengers then learned their problems were far from over. There was mayhem at the baggage claim area, and they were told no one could help them and to file claims for their bags.
This report was published by the Associated Press and has been updated with additional information from Travel Weekly editors.