Computer problems knocked Cincinnati-based Comair out of the sky yesterday, forcing the airline to cancel all of its flights, including its seven trips out of Toledo Express Airport.

The cancellations affected 30,000 travelers in 118 cities and included hundreds trying to make it in or out of northwest Ohio.

"I wanted to visit my parents in Florida. My grandmother's in a nursing home there," said Melinda Juergens, 41, of Luckey, Ohio. Her face was red from withheld tears as she walked away from the counter at Toledo Express. "I had a few days. Now I can't go at all."

The airline planned to have a limited number of flights today, but details were uncertain last night, a spokesman said.

The trouble started with the heavy snow and cold that hit central states last week. Comair spokesman Nick Miller said the computer problems were triggered in part by flights that were canceled Thursday and Friday because of bad weather.

"There was a cumulative effect with the canceled flights and trying to get crews assigned that caused the system to be overwhelmed," he said. "It just stopped operating."

Comair wasn't the only airline experiencing problems. US Airways canceled 65 flights on Thursday, 176 on Friday, and 143 yesterday. The airline blamed the cancellations and subsequent baggage backups on last week's severe weather and record numbers of employees calling in sick.

In Philadelphia, the problems, including a pileup of an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 luggage items, were so severe that U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta intervened.

Mr. Mineta was on the telephone with his aides "well into the midnight hours" as he tried to get an account of the problems at US Airways, a spokesman for the Department of Transportation said.

Philadelphia is a US Airways hub, but the baggage backups extended to other East Coast airports. In Virginia, hundreds of unclaimed bags from US Airways flights were piled at Richmond International Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Flights carrying only luggage were set to fly from Philadelphia to the airline's bag processing facility in Charlotte, where workers could help process bags more quickly, US Airways spokesman Amy Kudwa said.

At Toledo Express, Delta Connection is the No. 1 carrier, said Port Authority spokesman Brian Schwartz. Comair, the largest of the two subsidiaries Delta uses there, conducts seven flights daily out of Toledo Express.

Elizabeth Coleman, a Comair manager on duty trying to accommodate the line of hopeful travelers last night at Toledo Express, looked tired as she was barraged by mutters of "ridiculous" and, "on Christmas day!"

While some lucky passengers scored a ticket on other airlines, many were told they wouldn't be able to get a flight until tomorrow at the earliest.

"Everybody's overbooked. It just snowballs," said Rick Gallaher, a Toledo police officer on duty at the airport.

"I've seen people here three days in a row, not just with Delta," he said. "I'm getting to know them pretty well."

Some, however, took the news better than others. Tiffany Frymire and Drew Hunt, both of Bryan, said they'll have to wait until tomorrow to visit Mr. Hunt's father, who has been battling cancer.

"It's better than nothing, I guess," Mr. Hunt said.

But other passengers had problems like those of Karen Turner, 43, of Atlanta: "Oh my God! I have to go to work!"

The storm that blasted Ohio Wednesday and Thursday had forced Comair to cancel most of its Thursday flights after it ran critically low on de-icing fluid. Half the airline's flights out of the Cincinnati airport Friday also were canceled.

Then came the computer meltdown.

The airline called some customers beforehand. Joe and Brenda Ebers, both 47, and son Nick, 23, were set to fly to San Francisco yesterday to visit relatives but were called in the morning to say their flight to Cincinnati was canceled.

"It's 50 degrees out there. Now, we're not going," Joe Eber said.

Mary Pat Nahacky, 53, and her husband were in the area visiting relatives. She was trying to get back home to Nashville yesterday. She may not have had any luck getting a ride, but she still had sympathy.

"Hey, I feel sorry for those people," she added, nodding at the agents. "I'd hate to be them right now."

This report includes information from the Associated Press and New York Times.

First Published December 26, 2004, 10:55 a.m.