They should have been in Accra, Mexico City and Fuerteventura, but instead they were trapped at London's second airport, which was not spared the overnight blanket of snow that fell on England.

They sat wherever they could, sleeping on suitcases, reading books or trying to keep their children entertained as they waited to get away.

Sat by a plug trying to recharge her phone, Angela Diaz-Guerra, a 19-year-old student from Madrid, broke into tears.

"I've been here since yesterday, five flights cancelled. I don't know anything. This is the worst," she told AFP. Her five-day trip to London was looking like it would last seven days.

"I'm upset. I'm alone. My friends are in Spain and I don't speak English very well. If they said you can take the flight tomorrow, we would go away to London or to a hotel. I don't know when I can go home."

Nearby, the prayer room was full, but rather than seeking divine intervention to help them get to Tenerife, the floor was full of people snoozing.

The departures board read delayed and cancelled, while the arrivals board told the same story.

"The runway at Gatwick Airport is currently closed and we are unable to confirm when it will reopen," said a message over the speakers.

But having heard it all before, most people at the world's busiest single-runway airport seemed to have given up listening.

By the time the snow finally got shifted from the runway in the evening, 438 flights had been cancelled, and the departures board was still plastered with the word "delayed".

A dazed Chris Hayes, 31, from Bournemouth in southern England, should have been in Malaga on the southern Spanish coast, starting his new job which involves helping a friend set up a business.

But instead, he was in exactly the same spot as 12 hours before, dozing on his luggage at the Monarch check-in desk.

"I'm tired because I haven't slept and I'm hungry and I don't want to queue up for anything else in this airport because there's 200 people in every queue and everyone's tired and angry, so it's better to sit by myself."

Students Andrew McPhee, 23, and Terilynn Fairbairn, 22, played a newly-bought game of Battleships to while away the hours, with a pack of cards in store for later.

They were waiting to get back to Calgary in Canada after spending Christmas and New Year travelling around Britain.

"England needs to buy some snow ploughs," McPhee said. "An entire huge city is bowing down to a snowfall."

Fairbairn added: "When we left it was minus 30 degrees (Celsius).

"This kind of snow in Calgary, everything would just go on, all the flights would be on time, nothing would be delayed. It's frustrating for us."

Paul Atkins, 61, from Somerset in southwest England, was hoping to get to Vilnius with 10 of his friends for a three-day hunting trip. He spent a night on the tiles -- the hard airport floor.

"When you've had a night on this stuff, it's not pleasant," he said.

"At midnight our flight was cancelled. We didn't know what to do. It's just so frustrating but it's no good worrying about it."

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