Chaos broke out at Manchester Airport after runways were closed due to "heavy snowfall".
Passengers had their journeys cancelled and were left on planes for several hours yesterday as temperatures plummeted to 0C.
Ormskirk student Daniel Jones, 22, who arrived at the airport at 5am for a 7.55am flight to Oslo, was trapped in a queue for 10 hours awaiting a refund for his cancelled journey.
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Daniel said passengers on the Ryanair plane were told one minute before departure that their flight would be delayed due to the weather conditions.
Having boarded at 7.20am, he said passengers were then left on the plane until 9.30am before being asked to disembark and return to the terminal to await a new flight – which they were told would still be going ahead.
He told the PA news agency: “We were told they’ve blocked the runway so won’t be leaving for another two hours at least."
“They said we’ll get you to where you’re going, yours is going ahead … then at about 12pm they started announcing flights were cancelled.
“Now here we are in this queue – they’ve got two people on the desk and there’s probably over 100 people waiting.”
Daniel said his Ryanair journey cost him just £15, and he was told at the desk he would be able to apply online for a refund for the cost of his hostel in Oslo and his return flight to Manchester.
Daniel, who passed the time on his 10-hour wait by speaking to other passengers and playing cards, said the airport should have been better prepared for the weather conditions.
He said: “The weather didn’t seem that extreme, we were flying to Oslo where it’s much colder and I’m guessing flights are still going there.
“I don’t know what the situation is with Ryanair, I hope we get a refund but there is no option for an alternative flight.”
A Manchester Airport spokesperson said: “In anticipation of adverse weather forecast for this weekend, snow-clearing teams have been on site since Friday.
“Both runways were fully cleared and treated ahead of this morning’s first scheduled flight.
“Health and safety is our top priority and when snow on the airfield reaches a particular depth, it must be cleared before operations can continue.
“Once this morning’s flying programme was under way, there was a fresh period of heavy snowfall, which required further clearing to take place.
“The decision was therefore made to temporarily close airfield operations from 07.45 to 11.30 whilst clearing could take place to return to safe levels.
“We apologise to all affected passengers for any inconvenience and thank them for their patience.”
Ryanair said in a statement: “Due to snowy weather conditions in the UK, we are experiencing a small number of delays/cancellations to our flights from Liverpool and Manchester Airports today.
“While our teams are working hard to minimise disruption to customers, Ryanair advises all customers flying from the UK today to check the Ryanair website/app for flight status updates before travelling to the airport.
“We sincerely apologise for these weather-related disruptions which are entirely beyond our control.”
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