'Nightmare' airports chaos leaves West passengers stranded

Passengers from the west of England say their holidays have been "ruined" after a UK-wide air traffic control issue caused flight cancellations and delays.

Angela Bolitho, 62, of Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, described a trip to Edinburgh with her son as a "nightmare" after their return flight to Bristol from Scotland was cancelled.

Another passenger, Liam Graham, 27, from Bradley Stoke, South Gloucestershire, said he spent seven hours sitting on a plane at Bristol Airport bound for Bodrum in Turkey before being told it could not depart.

A Bristol Airport spokesperson said flights were "mostly back to normal with a small number of delays and cancellations".

Tens of thousands of passengers were affected by the disruption on Tuesday, with a further 153 flights cancelled on Wednesday.

National Air Traffic Services (Nats) blamed a technical fault and chief executive Martin Rolfe apologised. He said there would be a full investigation after the organisation admitted fixing the problem had taken "longer than hoped".

Graham said he and his girlfriend, who were due to go on their first holiday together, boarded their easyJet flight at 13:15 BST on Tuesday and were initially told there would be a 45-minute delay.

"Two hours later, the pilot spoke to everyone individually," he said.

"He said he hadn't seen anything like it in the last 20 years and that it was unprecedented, he said to sit and see what happens."

Graham said passengers were eventually asked to leave the aircraft after seven hours.

"The pilot was devastated and working really hard to get us off the ground," he said.

"There was a swarm of 186 people trying to speak to one EasyJet guy."

EasyJet said the situation was out of its control but apologised to passengers on the flight from Bristol to Bodrum.

A spokesperson said: "We did all we can to minimise the impact on our customers, providing those on cancelled flights with options to rebook or receive a refund, securing hotel accommodation where possible, and advising those who make their own travel and accommodation arrangements on how they can be reimbursed."

Bolitho said she and her son had arrived at Edinburgh Airport on Tuesday to discover their flight home had been cancelled.

"Every hotel room in Edinburgh was sold out, we had to sleep in the airport with loads of other people," she said.

"We managed to get two seats in a cafe and get a couple of hours here and there."

The pair were subsequently rescheduled to fly home on Wednesday afternoon.

"We're sat here with everything crossed, I've been watching every EasyJet flight hasn't gone yet."

An EasyJet spokesperson said some customers due to board the flight from Edinburgh to Bristol had stayed in the terminal.

"We worked with the airport to help make them as comfortable as possible during these circumstances," they said.

Sebastian Krygier, from Brentry, Bristol, said a long-awaited birthday trip to Antalya in Turkey had been "ruined".

"We were waiting on the plane for five hours, after we were informed there was a problem with the Nats system," he said of his wait at Bristol Airport.

"Everything has been cancelled so I'm spending the holiday at home."

Alice Johnson, 23, from Shirehampton, Bristol, had been due to travel from Bristol to Zante, Greece, with friends.

"We got to the airport around 12 I think, we got on the plane at 14:30 BST and we were told to get off the plane at 17:45 BST."

Johnson said the group hoped to recover the cost of their flights but expected to lose money on their Airbnb booking.

Bristol Airport advised passengers to "check the latest flight information with their airline".

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