Katie Brown, 25, who uses a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy, along with her father Graeme and his wife Vikki, told how they were left “stranded” in Vienna on Friday without luggage or vital medication.

They told BBC Scotland News they were thousands of euros out of pocket after having to book accommodation and an alternative flight home.

Ryanair and Vienna International Airport have been asked to comment.

The family were offered seats on the next available Ryanair flight home. However, they were told this would not be until five days later, on New Year’s Day, meaning they would miss Katie’s 26th birthday celebrations on Hogmanay.

Instead, they paid for a Jet2 flight home on Sunday.

The family, who had enjoyed a “lovely” Christmas break in the Austrian capital, said their flight home was initially delayed by two hours due to a technical fault.

They said they were escorted by airport assistance staff to a gate along with an 84-year-old solo passenger, who was also in a wheelchair.

After the staff failed to show up to board them on the flight, they were told it had been cancelled. They later learned the flight had taken off without them and the solo passenger.

Katie said: “The fact that our bags – including my medication – were flown home without us is shocking.

“We were abandoned at a gate and lied to, being told the flight was cancelled when it wasn’t.

“It feels like the airline decided it was cheaper to leave us behind than to risk potentially having to pay a hefty compensation bill for delaying the flight beyond three hours.

“It looks like they made a judgement call to save money at the expense of disabled passengers. It’s disgraceful and has left us feeling completely dehumanised.”

As well as paying for an alternative flight home, the family also had to pay for emergency medication, accommodation, clothing, and essentials in one of Europe’s most expensive cities.

Graeme Brown told BBC Scotland News his family were given “quite an interrogation” by passport control staff when they checked in for their replacement Jet2 flight home.

He said the security system showed the family had been stamped as leaving Austria on Friday.

Mr Brown also said Jet2 staff later described the non-removal of their luggage from the Ryanair flight as “a major security breach”.

According to flightstats.com, the initial flight left Vienna almost two hours and 40 minutes behind schedule, and landed almost two-and-a-half hours late.

Ryanair policy states that passengers could be entitled to compensation if their flight is delayed by three or more hours.

The family said the airline denied any liability for the incident, instead blaming the airport’s special assistance staff.

They said they have not received an apology or formal explanation for the incident.

On what is expected to be the airport’s busiest day of the Christmas period, it said some flights “may be delayed throughout the day” due to “poor visibility” and apologised to customers.

While the weather is improving, the UK’s main air traffic control (ATC) provider Nats said temporary air restrictions were in place for the rest of the day at affected London airports.

Flights are still being delayed across some of the UK’s other major airports on Sunday after cancellations and disruption since Friday. Passengers are still advised to check their flight before travelling.

Gatwick’s arrivals and departures boards show a number of delays to flights, with EasyJet saying some of its planes due to leave on Sunday are “now unable to operate as planned” due to ongoing poor weather.

The airline apologised and advised customers travelling to and from the airport on Sunday to check its website for the latest information on their flight.

Sunday is expected to be Gatwick’s busiest day during the holiday period, with 769 flights planned. It is thought that around 30 departures and 28 arrivals have been cancelled throughout the day.

Heathrow, Stansted and Luton Airports said on Sunday morning that flights had not been impacted by the weather.

However, live departures and arrivals boards showed some delays throughout the day, but it is not known if they were fog related.

Manchester Airport’s live boards also showed some delays to flights on Sunday.

Ewan Somerville, a BBC News journalist has been trying to fly from Edinburgh to Gatwick since 20:00 GMT on Saturday.

His flight was cancelled and rescheduled for 17:00 on Sunday but has now been delayed until 22:30. Two other Gatwick flights after it have been cancelled.

“Many passengers on delayed or cancelled flights are stuck here in the departure lounge facing constant uncertainty, as the slots keep changing,” he said.

“I’ve seen a passenger in tears, others wanting to hire cars to London but being told they wouldn’t get reimbursed for that cost, people looking for trains which are all sold out, and parents asking to change flights because of their restless young children – but being told they’d need to ring an easyJet customer service helpline you can’t get through to.

“It’s a chaotic situation and really difficult to get any answers about when we can finally get home.”

BBC Weather said the fog is not as extensive or thick as it has been for the past two days, adding it is mostly in central and south England and south Wales and should disperse from some areas by Sunday afternoon.

But even when the fog dissipates, many planes and pilots may be out of place due to the previous delays and cancellations, which is likely to bring further disruption to air travel.

A Nats spokesperson added: “Our teams are working closely with the airports and airlines to minimise disruption but passengers should check the status of their flight with their airline.”

Manchester, Glasgow and Cardiff were among the airports where flights had also been disrupted on Friday and Saturday.

A fresh bout of weather disruption is forecast over the New Year after the Met Office issued a series of yellow warnings around the UK.

Alerts for rain, snow and wind of up to 70mph begin to come into force on Monday with almost all of the country impacted by at least one warning over the following four days.

Dozens of flights at Heathrow and Gatwick have been cancelled or delayed on Saturday, after multiple flights were affected on Friday. The UK’s main air traffic control provider, Nats, said “temporary” air restrictions would remain for places with low visibility.

Forecasters said the fog would persist across much of England and Wales and was likely to linger, especially across southern areas, but conditions could improve later.

Passengers have been advised to check their flight status, with motorists also warned to take extra care on the roads.

On Saturday, 20 flights at Heathrow have been cancelled so far with another 29 delayed, while at Gatwick, 26 are delayed and one has been cancelled.

A Gatwick spokesperson said: “Temporary air traffic restrictions have been put in place due to fog causing poor visibility.”

The airport apologised for any inconvenience, adding that delays could last all day.

Nats said it was monitoring the situation as some UK airports continue to be affected by the “widespread fog”.

“Planes and their pilots aren’t necessarily in the right place to start getting people where they need to be,” travel journalist Simon Calder told BBC Breakfast, explaining that delays from the previous day would have a knock-on effect.

No issues have been reported at Birmingham, East Midlands or Manchester airports on Saturday.

On Friday, data from flight tracking website Flightradar24 showed dozens of outbound flights were cancelled from airports across the UK, while hundreds more were delayed.

Manchester, Glasgow and Cardiff were among the airports where flights were delayed or cancelled.

Irem, 36, had her flight from Germany to the UK delayed by nearly seven hours on Friday due to fog at Manchester Airport.

“We’ve started boarding [at Cologne Airport] but are crammed into a space where we’re waiting for the bus. We’ve been standing for about an hour, it’s just been a bit of a nightmare,” she told the BBC.

“I am from Cologne so we spent a few days here over Christmas with my family. We are about to have a delayed Christmas and New Year with my husband’s family in North Wales.

“That will be delayed slightly, but I suppose we’re lucky we’re still going to see them tomorrow.”

National Highways, which runs the UK’s motorways and busiest A-roads, said the misty weather was not having a significant impact on its network.

It reminded motorists to use dipped headlights, wipers and demisters while driving in foggy conditions.

The persistent low cloud, mist and fog has been trapped in place by a slow-moving area of high pressure.

Saturday’s widespread low cloud, mist and fog is expected to clear later.

Conditions are expected to look significantly clearer on Sunday, with sunny spells across much of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Fog is essentially a cloud that has formed near the ground and gives a damp feeling.It happens when the air contains a lot of moisture and often happens after rain.

Tuesday’s forecast in both Guernsey and Jersey is overcast and misty, with fog patches and a little light drizzle until sunset just after 16:00 GMT.

Jersey Airport said it had extended its opening hours to help passengers affected by disruptions, while most flights in and out of Guernsey on Tuesday morning were delayed, with some cancellations.

Staff at Jersey Airport advised passengers to check in as normal, with airlines set to give updated information.

The Ports of Jersey said a total of 860 people were trying to leave Jersey and 1,368 were due to arrive.Guernsey airline Aurigny said: “We are currently experiencing low visibility in Guernsey that is causing slight delays on our services today.

“We understand how important travel is on Christmas Eve, and we recognise how frustrating the weather disruptions are – especially today of all days.”

The airline said it had partnered with Avanti Air to provide additional planes and had booked passengers to and from Alderney on to ferries.

Ross Coppolo, managing director of Guernsey Ports, which runs the airport, said he was “hopeful” the weather would clear in the afternoon, allowing flights to catch up.

Sarah Louise Stubbs, head of customer operations at Jersey Airport, said improvement was expected for Guernsey at about 16:00 and 19:00 GMT for Jersey.

She said: “There is no place for us to open tomorrow but we will be remaining open for as long as possible this evening to make sure that all our passengers are with their friends and family where they should be for Christmas.

“All I can ask is that all passengers check in on time and to work closely with the airline for any advice that they’re giving.”

Luna Pinto Baker said her flight from Jersey to Gatwick was cancelled on Tuesday morning but she hoped to get away in the evening on a new flight to Heathrow.

She said: “It wasn’t my Christmas Eve plans but I’m feeling fine.

“They’ve done a good job to do what they can, they can’t really control the mist and that’s bad luck that it arrived today, but that’s the way it is.”

Andrew Evans was meant to fly into Manchester from Jersey at 09:00 but the flight has been delayed until 18:40.

He said he was “pretty optimistic” he would still get to Manchester.

“I’ve been checking the weather forecast and you can see the fog lifting a little bit, hoping that that’s right and eventually we’ll get off the island.”

Richard Benn, also on the same Manchester flight, said he had booked a different flight to Liverpool on Tuesday evening in case the other was cancelled, noting “that’s just Jersey” when it came to fog issues.

The nationwide halt was cancelled just before 13:00 GMT, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The disruption came during one of the busiest travel days of the year as passengers made journeys on Christmas Eve.

In a statement, the airline said a “vendor technology issue” had caused the issue and it was “all hands on deck” to minimise further disruption.

“We sincerely apologise to our customers for the inconvenience this morning,” the airline said.

“It’s all hands on deck as our team is working diligently to get customers where they need to go as quickly as possible.”

Flights are still showing delays as the airline recovers from the nationwide issue, but real-time tracking website Flightradar24 shows planes taking off again at a number of major US travel hubs.

Passengers reported on social media being stuck on the tarmac or at gates as flights were impacted by the outage for around an hour.

In a video posted on X by a CBS reporter in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a gate agent announced a flight to Philadelphia was going to start boarding.

“The system is slowly coming back,” the agent announced from a gate.

In July, American Airlines, among other major operators, grounded flights across the US due to communication issues caused by a global IT crash.

That failure – which also affected banks and emergency services – was caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike.