Air Canada flights were delayed across Canada and around the world after a major computer problem Friday morning forced ticket agents to check in passengers manually.

Many Air Canada planes were grounded at Toronto's Pearson International Airport on Friday.
(CBC)

The computer reservation system appeared to be back up and running at about 10:30 a.m. ET, but flight delays continued as airports struggled to deal with a backlog that had been building since the system went down at 4 a.m.

Checking in passengers was "dramatically slower than usual" as the airline checked in passengers manually, said Scott Armstrong, a spokesman for the Greater Toronto Airports Authority. Other airlines were not affected.

In a news release around noon Friday, the airline said the "technical difficulties" had been resolved and "the operation is returning to normal." The release said that delays averaged 40 minutes across Air Canada's network.

The airline said flight schedules should be back to normal by Friday afternoon.

Chaos at Pearson

Worst hit was Canada's busiest airport, Toronto's Pearson International Airport, where hundreds of frustrated passengers packed Terminal 1.

"It's totally chaos out here. There are hundreds and hundreds of people in lineups that are absolutely going nowhere," Catherine Clark, a CBC producer with Marketplace who was waiting for a flight, said earlier in the morning.

Passengers stand in a lineup running the length of the terminal, waiting to be checked in manually by Air Canada staff at Pearson airport in Toronto on Friday. A glitch in the airline's computer reservation system delayed flights.
(J.P. Moczulski/Canadian Press)

The Greater Toronto Airports Authority, which runs Pearson, said extra staff was brought in to help manage the increased number of planes on the ground and the growing lineups of customers.

Employees handed out bottles of water to waiting customers, who seemed resigned to the delay.

"There's almost a grin-and-bear-it attitude here," CBC reporter Jamie Strashin said. He added that several flights had managed to depart in the morning.

At the Vancouver International Airport, CBC reporters said extensive lineups had mostly cleared by 8:30 a.m. PT.

At Halifax's Stanfield International Airport, lineups began to clear out by late morning, said airport spokesman Peter Spurway.

Air Canada ticket agents there said the computer system had been up one minute and down the next for part of the morning.