Travellers battle to cope as sky remains out of bounds to planes

Ms Houston and her extensive entourage were forced to swap first-class flights for a car ferry across the Irish Sea to fulfil the latest date on her world tour, in Dublin.

But for many thousands more passengers at airports all around the country, there was no such easy option.

Barbara and Tony Mallinder have been looking forward to a luxury cruise around Hong Kong, Vietnam and Japan, departing from Shanghai tomorrow. They had left their home in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, at 1am yesterday, understanding their flight from London Heathrow would leave later in the afternoon. It did not.

"If we don't get there, it's not going to wait for us," Mr Mallinder said.

Student Jessica White, 23, from Sheffield, was meant to be flying to Australia with a friend. "I'm just fed up," she said.

"We've got nowhere to go and nothing to do, and no-one's telling us anything. We got told to go home but we can't do that as it's such a long way away, and we want to be here when the flight comes up."

For those rich enough to afford it, there were tales of extravagant taxi journeys across international borders.

Comic actor John Cleese reportedly took a 3,500 cab ride from Oslo to Brussels so he could try to catch a Eurostar train to the UK later yesterday.

"I'm not in a hurry," Mr Cleese told Norwegian television.

And a group of businessmen, some of them medics needing to return home to see patients, paid a taxi driver 700 to take them from Belfast to London.

Cabbie Joe Duffy, 45, arrived back at Belfast yesterday afternoon after spending 24 hours on the road. He had covered 869 miles.

"It's only once in a lifetime you get a job like that," he said.

Meanwhile the first air passengers began arriving back into the UK from Iceland last night after jets were given permission to land at Scottish airports.

The 600 passengers on three Icelandair services included several groups of schoolchildren whose geography field trips had taken an unexpectedly dramatic turn.

Imogen Heaton, 15, from Loughborough High School in Leicestershire, said: "We were woken by our teachers and had to board buses in our pyjamas because there was concerns about flooding in our area.

"We were told there had been an eruption.

When the bus took us from our cabin we saw all the smoke and we didn't know what was happening.

"It was quite scary."

Her geography teacher Alex Cooper said: "The year-11s are taking their exams in the summer, so they could answer questions about what happens when a volcano erupts from first-hand experience.

"Once we knew what was happening it was fine.

"The Icelandic emergency services were very good and it was all planned," he added.

Airports warn against travel

Airports across the UK are requesting passengers do not travel in expectation of services resuming before any announcement has been made. They should instead contact airlines for information about flights.

Extra train services have been put in place for passengers looking to make alternative arrangements. Information on timetables and tickets are available from National Rail Enquiries on 08457 48 49 50. Those looking to use ferry or coach services should contact individual operators direct.