Vueling mayhem after third day of string of flights cancelled

Connections to London, Cagliari, Algiers, Málaga, Paris and Ibiza were affected, and the Bilbao-Alicante and Bilbao-Málaga routes stopped running altogether.

Queues across the terminal were seen on Thursday, Friday and yesterday as disgruntled travellers tried to find a solution to their problem, having turned up at the airport to find they were unable to fly.

Those flights which have taken off in the last three days have been severely delayed, often by over two hours, as has been the case with those heading to Ibiza, Lyon and Amsterdam.

Vueling's website for the cancelled flights read: "We regret to inform you that, due to operational reasons, your flight will not be operating, but we have changed your booking to the next available flight."

Passengers were told to check the 'your booking' section on the website or App, or call the customer service line for more information.

They were told to fill in a claim form on the website to recover overnight accommodation costs if necessary.

Sales manager for Vueling David García Blancas apologised publicly to the affected customers and said the firm was 'doing everything in its power' to 'resolve the current situation'.

Up to 150 stood in the queue at the information desk in Barcelona at one point, a group of whom had missed their connection to Gran Canaria due to a delay of several hours in their flight from Oslo to Barcelona taking off.

The exact cause of the cancellations and delays is not yet known, although some inside sources blame 'organisational problems' leading to a 'lack of staff and aircraft' making it difficult for the carrier to fulfil its duties to all holders of flight tickets sold.

Catalunya's regional consumer protection agency, ACC - part of the regional government - has ordered Vueling and airline governing body AENA to provide all the information it can about the problems preventing passengers from flying on time, or at all.