Watch: Birmingham Airport queues as flights are delayed and cancelled after air traffic control issues

Would-be holidaymakers at Birmingham Airport have told of their travel nightmares after an air traffic control meltdown caused thousands of flights to be cancelled on Bank Holiday Monday (August 28).

Alexandra Williamson, 45, from Birmingham, was due to fly to visit her daughter in Prague when her flight was cancelled at the last minute. The chaos meant she was forced to fly to Germany before catching a connecting flight to Prague.

The mum-of-one said: “My flight was cancelled one hour before I flew. The airline booked us in the hotel, we had to wait for six hours for the hotel, but then there were more delays as people were waiting for the rooms. Now I’ve had to fly to Frankfurt, and then wait to get to Prague. I’ve had to fly to Germany with Lufthansa. I’ve only been here to see my daughter for a quick weekend. I had to call work and rearrange everything.

“You didn’t know what was going to happen. At Birmingham they kept us in a queue. It was scary. I finally flew to Frankfurt this morning and I will be in Prague about 2pm. I’m really not sure what to think, it was really messy.

“If someone told us before, a few hours before, but it was only an hour. It was really stressful. We didn’t know what was going to happen. It was stressful, finding people to ask. We didn’t know what’s going to happen. We found one lady and she helped us.”

Nick and Gemma Furlong were forced to wait seven hours in Gran Canaria Airport with their one-year-old daughter after their flight was cancelled. Nick: “We were waiting for about seven hours for our flight back to Birmingham. The most frustrating part was not knowing how long it would be and all the flights before ours that were waiting a while and were cancelled.

“We’ve got a one-year-old with us and think the most challenging part in the airport was that there was nothing open. We’re there during the night with no food or drink or anything to keep us occupied or refreshed. I think it would have been a lot easier in the daytime with facilities. It was very frustrating. We flew from Gran Canaria. It was during the middle of the night, but we set off at quarter to four in the morning.”

Builder Ashley Weaver, 35, waited three hours for his luggage at Birmingham Airport after he and his family flew home from a £12,000 holiday in Orlando, Florida.

The married dad-of-two, from Smethwick, said: “There was a baggage delay of three hours. It got quite heated between Tui and Birmingham Airport. One of the representatives for Tui had to leave. They didn’t give any explanation for it. We saw the delays from the air traffic control.

“We were willing to be stuck in the airport. For baggage, if we left we couldn’t get back in. We couldn’t get food. My holiday was end to end was £12,000 but that’s a not small amount of money. There was no real reason for the delay. The airport just said it’s not our fault.”