Many US Airways passengers flying from Pittsburgh International Airport Sunday to kick off summer vacations or for other reasons probably found the experience to be anything but relaxing.

		Related story: Unwise owl 'diverts' incoming flight to Pittsburgh

Some travelers endured waits of two hours or more to retrieve boarding passes or to check luggage as lines to the US Airways ticket counter snaked throughout the terminal for parts of the day.

The long waits caused tempers to flare and the police to be called to settle down the crowd.

At one point, one group of passengers, fearful of missing their flight, started chanting, "Hold the plane, hold the plane," according to KDKA-TV.

While some passengers reported seeing only one or two US Airways ticket agents on duty during peak times, US Airways spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said yesterday the ticketing area was fully staffed, with 13 to 14 people working.

She blamed Sunday's problems on an "unusually high number of customers" bringing multiple pieces of luggage with them to be checked.

She said the large volume of bags caused check-in procedures at airline electronic kiosks to balloon from 30 to 40 seconds to four to five minutes, causing lines to back up.

Kudwa said 10 people missed a flight to Cancun because of the long lines, but she was unaware of any others not making their planes.

Chris Fox, president of Communications Workers of America Local 13302, which represents ticket agents, disputed Kudwa, however, saying that she was told the ticket counter was understaffed, with only six agents on duty.

With some of those diverted to handle first-class travelers or other chores, at times only one to two agents were available to address the majority of those waiting to check luggage or get boarding passes, she said.

"People were working as fast as they could, but there were still two- to three-hour waits," she said.

Fox said another problem was that the kiosks were not printing boarding passes on code-sharing flights between US Airways and other airlines.

That required the agents to do extra work to get the boarding passes in order. The passes are needed to get through security.

About 18,000 people passed through security at the airport Sunday, making it one of the busiest days of the year.

The airport has been averaging about 11,000 to 13,000 travelers through security daily.