By Mark Rollenhagen
Plain Dealer Reporter

Hundreds of outbound travelers were stranded at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport when the regional power outage froze security checkpoints, ticketing and baggage systems.

"We're open but as a practical matter the passengers can't be processed," said Cleveland Port Control Director John Mok three hours after the power went out.

Back-up power allowed air traffic controllers to continue managing takeoffs and landings, but walk-through metal detectors and machines that detect bombs in baggage were rendered useless.

Mike Young, head of the Transportation Security Administration in Cleveland, said he offered to have TSA screeners check carry-on baggage by hand and use battery-operated wands to check for metal on some flights.

But he said airlines declined the offer because they did not have a way to hold and keep track of checked baggage.

Airport officials said some flights might have been able to leave last night if most passengers had been cleared through security. By 7 p.m., most airlines had announced that no more planes would be leaving -- at least none with passengers.

Mok said the airlines might continue moving planes to get them to other airports where they would be needed in the morning.

Some planes were temporarily stuck at boarding gates because the passenger ramps that connect large places to the gate are operated electrically.

Inbound flights, meanwhile, continued to land. Airline workers carried bags out to the stalled carousels, where they were picked up travelers who groaned an puffed as they hauled heavy suitcases up down steps and stalled escalators.

Mansfield Kimbro's flight from San Francisco had just landed when the crew announced that the airport was without power.

"They probably didn't tell us because they didn't want anyone to panic," Kimbro said.

His brother Carl, of Lorain said a monitor in the terminal had just shown his brother's flight as arriving when it went black. He called his wife in Lorain and found out how extensive the loss of power was. He thought, "If they're circling it's not like they can send them somewhere else."

Trudy Wilson of Atlanta said she was at a business meeting in Middleburg Heights when the lights went out.

"We said 'Hey, let's go home early," she said while waiting near the ticket counters. "Not quite."

A colleague from Menlo Worldwide Trade Services, George Mougtoussidis, looked at the growing crowd around 6 p.m. and figured he was spending another day in Cleveland.

"I'm on my way home to Toronto -- I don't think I'm getting there tonight."

They were going to look up another colleague who they knew had already booked a hotel room.

Joanne Salyards of Los Angeles, had just checked her luggage at the ticket counter when the power went out and the checkpoints shut down.

Salyards was thankful that her sister, Sue Ellen Doyle of Strongsville, had insisted on coming into the terminal rather than dropping her off at the curb.

"I said, you can leave if you want," Salyards said.

Instead, when she found that her flight home was canceled, Salyards retrieved her luggage and left to spend another night in Cleveland.com.