Beleaguered Brits have told of their travel nightmares after an air traffic control meltdown caused thousands of flights to be cancelled on Bank Holiday Monday.<br /><br />Alexandra Williamson, 45, from Birmingham, was due to fly to visit her daughter in <br />Prague when her flight was cancelled at the last minute.<br /><br />The chaos meant she was forced to fly to Germany before catching a connecting flight to Prague.<br /><br />The mum-of-one said: "My flight was cancelled one hour before I flew. <br /><br />“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. <br /><br />"Now I’ve had to fly to Frankfurt, and then wait to get to Prague. I’ve had to fly to Germany with Lufthansa. <br /><br />"I’ve only been here to see my daughter for a quick weekend. I had to call work and rearrange everything. <br /><br />“You didn’t know what was going to happen. At Birmingham they kept us in a queue. It was scary. <br /><br />“I finally flew to Frankfurt this morning and I will be in Prague about 2pm. <br /><br />"I’m really not sure what to think, it was really messy. <br /><br />“If someone told us before, a few hours before, but it was only an hour. It was really stressful. <br /><br />“We didn’t know what was going to happen. It was stressful, finding people to ask. <br /><br />“We didn’t know what’s going to happen. We found one lady and she helped us."<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Nick: “We were waiting for about seven hours for our flight back to Birmingham. <br /><br />“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. <br /><br />“We’ve got a one-year-old with us and think the most challenging part in the airport was that there was nothing open. <br /><br />“We’re there during the night with no food or drink or anything to keep us occupied or refreshed. <br /><br />“I think it would have been a lot easier in the daytime with facilities. It was very frustrating. <br /><br />“We flew from Gran Canaria. It was during the middle of the night, but we set off at quarter to four in the morning.” <br /><br />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.<br /><br />The married dad-of-two, from Smethwick, said: "There was a baggage delay of three hours. <br /><br />"It got quite heated between Tui and Birmingham Airport. One of the representatives for Tui had to leave. <br /><br />"They didn’t give any explanation for it.<br /><br />"We saw the delays from the air traffic control. We were willing to be stuck in the airport. <br /><br />"For baggage, if we left we couldn’t get back in. We couldn’t get food. <br /><br />"My holiday was end to end was £12,000 but that’s a not small amount of money. <br /><br />"There was no real reason for the delay. The airport just said it’s not our fault."
