Todd and MoRaya Ferryman had hoped to be in Costa Rica Monday night celebrating their honeymoon at a five-star resort.
Instead, they were among the thousands of Delta Air Lines passengers met with long lines at Los Angeles International Airport and other airports around the country as the airline worked to restore order after a power outage knocked out its computer system and temporarily grounded all flights.
"She deserves it, and I'm just trying to get her on this trip," said Todd Ferryman as he embraced his wife, still in her wedding dress.
The couple from Merced has been stranded in Terminal 5 at LAX since Sunday night. They were married Saturday, five months after making the flight reservation for their dream honeymoon.
"I'm wearing the same thing that I've been wearing," said MoRaya Ferryman. "The only difference is I'm not as polite as I have been."
Instead of dining at their vacation spot, a five-star resort, the couple has spent about $250 on food at Terminal 5.
"We're supposed to go and relax," said MoRaya Ferryman. "We did everything ourselves for our wedding in order to budget for the honeymoon because we intended to splurge on each other for this honeymoon.
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"All we've gotten is attitude, wasted time and $15 lunch vouchers."
They were re-booked about five times before finally leaving Tuesday morning. In a text to NBC4, the couple said they had arrived in Guatemala and boarded a connecting red eye flight to Costa Rica.
But that flight never took off, leaving them looking for an even later flight, Todd Ferryman said in a text.
Instagram videos from Delta passengers at LAX showed a packed terminal and suitcases accumulating at the baggage claim.
"I've landed in LA, thankfully, but now, I gotta find my bags," said Junko Chen in a video she posted to Instagram before she panned to the crowded baggage claim. "It's a mess."
Delta canceled nearly 250 more flights Tuesday morning, according to its website.
"We were able to bring our systems back on line and resume flights within a few hours yesterday but we are still operating in recovery mode," said Dave Holtz, senior vice president of the Operations and Customer Center. "We are sorry for what many of our customers have experienced over the past 24 hours, including those who remain at airports and continue waiting for their flights. We are doing everything we can to return our operation to normal reliability, but we do expect additional delays and cancellations."
More than 1,000 Delta flights globally were canceled, and dozens more were delayed. At LAX, officials said only about a dozen departing flights were affected, but many arriving flights were showing delays.
According to the airline, a power outage in Atlanta knocked out its computer system, leading to the ground stop of all flights that had not yet departed. That ground stop was lifted around 5:40 a.m., but scheduling issues were expected to continue throughout the day.
"Cancellations and delays continue," according to the airline. "Customers heading to the airport(s) should expect delays and cancellations. While inquiries are high and wait times are long, our customer service agents are doing everything they can to assist. There may also be some lag time in the display of accurate flight status at delta.com, the Fly Delta App and from Delta representatives on the phone and in airport."
Also a "travel waiver" system was in effect to help people who need to reschedule. Information is available here.
City News Service contributed to this report.
