Travellers still stuck at airport

Most passengers had managed to continue their journeys by Tuesday morning, but some transit travellers remained stranded in hotels near Heathrow waiting for the next available flight.

British Airways axed 28 flights from Britain's biggest airport on Monday in a hangover from Sunday's chaos.

All flights were operating normally on Tuesday, albeit on a reduced Christmas Day schedule, an airline spokeswoman said.

The majority of people in hotels were transfer passengers and people who do not live locally and could not get home.

The spokeswoman said: "Some transferring passengers are still in hotels but that is clearing quickly. Some of their destinations are long-haul with flights only two or three times a week."

Kerstin Murr, a 26-year-old student from Germany, was spending Christmas alone in a hotel after her flight to Stuttgart was cancelled. She is now trying to rebook for Wednesday or Thursday.

She was heading home from university in Vancouver when she arrived at fog-bound Heathrow and was forced to spend a night on an airport bench because she could not find a hotel room.

She said: "I just hope I can get home for New Year. It's miserable but there's nothing I can do about it.

"I just need a bit of sleep."