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http://www.cbs2ny.com/now/story/0,1597,232919-207,00.shtml Continental Wakes Up From Power Outage Hundreds of Flights Grounded Last Night Over 100 Delays Planes Flying Again NEW YORK Wednesday, September 13, 2000 - 01:02 PM ET

(WCBS) Some Continental Airlines flights were still being delayed Wednesday morning after a power glitch at the airline's main operations center hampered service for about three hours Tuesday night.

An unknown number flights were being delayed Wednesday morning because of federally mandated rest periods for crew members between flights, Continental spokesman Dave Messing said.

"That's the only residual impact we're having this morning," he said. Messing said the carrier would know later Wednesday how many flights were delayed.

The interruption occurred after a breaker failed and firefighters called to the airline's downtown headquarters shut off a backup power supply as a safety precaution around 5 p.m. Tuesday, Messing said.

The power glitch left many stranded passengers having to spend a night at Newark Airport. One passenger said they were given a pillow, a blanket and a voucher for tea, but that it hardly made up for the overnight stay.

About 13 flights were canceled and fewer than 150 were delayed, he said. The original estimate that up to 400 flights would be affected was overstated, Messing said.

At George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, one of the airline's hubs, the glitch caused major delays Tuesday from 5 p.m. until after 8 p.m. when the computer problem was fixed.

"It caused problems for us because we had planes coming in and nowhere to put them," said airport spokesman Ernie DeSoto. "Flights were coming, but we couldn't pull planes out of the gates."

Continental also has hubs at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and at Newark International Airport in New Jersey.

Messing said precautions are being taken to prevent similar situations in the future.

"We will do an analysis to see what changes are necessary if any in our equipment or procedures," he said.

-- K (infosurf@yahoo.com), September 13, 2000