Storm Isha forces UK flights to divert to France and Germany

Storm Isha has forced a number of UK and Ireland flights to divert to France and Germany, with passengers finding themselves stranded in airports abroad.

Planes heading for Bristol, Dublin and London ended up in Paris, as Edinburgh-bound planes landed in Cologne.

Some on domestic routes had left their passports at home, meaning they had to sleep on terminal floors overnight.

One flight from Budapest returned to Hungary, via Manchester, after aborting several landings at Stansted Airport.

Parts of the UK have seen their strongest winds in 10 to 20 years.

Kerry Hamilton was returning home on an EasyJet flight from Edinburgh to Bristol after a weekend visiting her parents.

While other flights had been outright cancelled, this one suffered only an hour's delay.

But once it got off the ground, it was clear something was wrong.

"We got towards Bristol and were told the winds were too high for us to land safely, and we would try circling to see if they would reduce," Ms Hamilton told the BBC.

"They didn't, so we were told we were diverting to Paris because a lot of the UK airports were closed or not safe to land at."

Since a domestic route had now become international, many passengers who had left their passports at home were unable to pass through immigration to access a hotel.

Ms Hamilton told the BBC the pilot informed passengers he "hadn't considered" the issue.

EasyJet said: "As the weather was not set to improve, the flight was delayed overnight and we have been doing all possible to minimise the impact for our customers, providing hotel accommodation and meals.

"Some customers not carrying a passport have been required by the French authorities to remain in the airport and so we have been working with the airport to make them as comfortable as possible, ahead of the flight's departure today.

"While the circumstances are outside of our control, we are very sorry for the inconvenience this will have caused."

Luke Bromage-Henry was also on a domestic flight that was diverted to Paris yesterday evening.

His plane was supposed to leave Jersey at 19:35 GMT, bound for London Gatwick, but instead took off at 23:35, after several hours sat on the runway.

A landing was attempted at Gatwick but due to strong winds the pilot announced a redirection to France, landing at 03:30 local time (02:30 GMT).

"Worst trip to Paris ever," he told the BBC.

"As soon as buses dropped us off at the transfer terminal, it was like every man for themselves," he added.

Both Ms Hamilton and Mr Bromage-Henry spent the night in the terminal at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.

"I slept for about two hours underneath some chairs in the transfer terminal," Mr Bromage-Henry said.

He was automatically rebooked onto an EasyJet flight from Paris to Gatwick on Monday morning. Ms Hamilton was due to depart at 13:00 local time (12:00 GMT).

Meanwhile, Declan Cassidy had been on a flight from Manchester to Dublin when it was also diverted to Paris.

The pilot had aborted landing at the Irish capital's airport several times due to strong winds.

"It was crazy [and] like being on one of those bulls that throw you off," he said.

The flight eventually made its way to Dublin.

Other diverted planes include Ryanair flights from Tenerife and Seville headed for Edinburgh which ended up in Germany's Cologne Bonn Airport.

Passengers on a Ryanair flight from Budapest to London Stansted were flown back to Hungary after several attempts to land at the airport were abandoned.

Describing the aborted landings, Olivia Lynes told BBC News. "It was really bumpy. It was like the worst rollercoaster turbulence you have, but you're trapped in a metal tube.

"It was swinging from side to side."

The plane was then diverted and landed in Manchester, where she said passengers sat for three hours without information. Some passengers got off there but the flight then went on to try to land again at Stansted Airport but failed, and eventually flew back to Budapest getting in the early hours.

"It was awful. There was no information at any point, then it was 'just by the way we're half on the way to Budapest'," she said.

"How am I going to get back I thought. We were supposed to be working today."

Ms Lynes criticised Ryanair for the lack of communication and food offered. Eventually she managed to get on a Ryanair flight from Budapest to Stansted this morning.

She said that while "you can't control the weather" should would have expected "a bit more humanity than we got".

Ryanair said it "sincerely apologises" to passengers affected by the storm disruptions which were "entirely beyond our control".