Passengers tell of 'chaos' after Belfast TUI and EasyJet flights disrupted

• WATCH: Three friends tell UTV about the 'chaotic' end to their weekend away:

Passengers have spoken of the "chaos" they have endured after their flights to and from Belfast were cancelled.

A number of flights by TUI and EasyJet have been disrupted with services to Gatwick, Bristol, Faro, Malaga, Dalaman and Kos all disrupted.

Both airlines apologised for any disruption and inconvenience caused, and said customers will be entitled to compensation.

Stephen Givan and his two friends Gillian McBride and Pamela Millar told UTV that Gatwick Airport was "chaos" with people like them whose flights had been cancelled.

The trio were in Windsor for a weekend away but were forced to spend an extra night in England after their plane back to Belfast International was cancelled.

"It was just chaos," Stephen told UTV from their hotel room, saying that all three of them have had to book a day off work because of the disruption.

"We managed to change our flights, but there are people who have young children, elderly people and people who can't use technology," Gillian said.

"We're probably the fortunate ones. It's just not a good way to end a fantastic weekend," she added.

When they arrived back at Gatwick on Monday they were greeted with a security queue that snaked around the airport, with it taking them 50 minutes to pass security control.

Chloe Johnston was due to travel from Gatwick back home to Northern Ireland on Sunday night with EasyJet.

"We were told it was cancelled. No explanation was given and there were no staff on scene to help with enquiries or moving people on to next flight," Chloe told UTV.

Chloe managed to get booked onto an early morning departure the next day but other passengers on her original flight said the next service they could find was on Monday evening.

"There was no staff at all on site to manage the disruption. There were lots of people very distressed in tears worried at what hotels to book as everything was selling out and not sure if they would get the money back," Chloe explained.

Rosaleen Gormley was also left stranded in England last night after her EasyJet flight back to Belfast from Bristol was cancelled.

"We managed to get another flight booked for this morning but the app crashed when everyone tried to book hotel," Rosaleen said.

Rosaleen said staff then told passengers they would have to leave the airport to go to their overnight hotel.

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