A WOMAN is fearing the worst for the return from her holiday after being stuck on a grounded plane for six hours on the way out to Spain. 

Carol O’Neil, of Allerton was all set for getting away from the wintry weather at the start of this month but those very conditions put a long halt on her plans.

She was due to fly out to Alicante from Leeds Bradford Airport with Ryanair on February 8 at 3.45pm but the north of England and other areas were put under a yellow weather warning for snow that day, while the Met Office issued an amber alert for Bradford.

This wreaked havoc on the roads but several flights coming to and from the airport in Yeadon were also impacted.

Ryanair has apologised for the severe delay which ended up being six hours in total.

Mrs O’Neil, who is in her sixties, first contacted the Telegraph & Argus when she had been sat on the plane for five hours without any movement and “no news for take-off”.

She said: “Passengers are getting ratty and extremely upset.

“Excuses given are runway clearing and waiting for de-icing however other planes due to leave after our flight have already gone with no problem with runway or de-icing.

“Passengers are leaving the plane disgusted although Ryanair state the flight will continue.”

At least six people got off the plane and there were half a dozen on board with disabilities who were “not asked if they were okay”, Mrs O’Neil claimed.

Several other flights were able to take off during the wait, albeit delayed, including a Ryanair service to Gdansk that set off before the Alicante flight, despite it being scheduled for 4.50pm.

The plane eventually got on its way to Spain at 9.42pm, according to Flightradar24.

Ryanair confirmed it had a heavily delayed take-off due to the weather and initially kept people on board to quicken the process when conditions improved.

But the weather did not let up so Ryanair opened the onboard bar for passengers to use.

A spokesperson for the company said: “This flight from Leeds Bradford to Alicante (8th Feb) was delayed due to heavy snow at Leeds Bradford Airport.

“To minimise delay, customers remained onboard while crew waited for conditions to improve, which took longer than initially expected.

“Passengers were notified of the delay and subsequently updated via the crew onboard, email, and PUSH notification.

“Bars were opened onboard after 45mins and remained open throughout the delay for passengers to access refreshments.

“This flight departed for Alicante later that same evening when weather conditions improved.

“We sincerely apologise to passengers for any inconvenience caused as result of this weather-related delay which was entirely beyond our control.”

Mrs O’Neil claims she only received a single bottle of water for free during the six-hour wait and that hot meals were available but ran out near the front of the plane.

There was a two-hour drive to her vacation destination of Cehegín, in the Murcia region to contend with on landing but the extreme delay caused issues with that too.

Mrs O’Neil said: “We were due at the house for around 9pm and actually arrived at 5am due to having to await delivery of a car at the airport instead of it being ready for pick up, and having to stop and eat on the way to our destination at a 24-hour café.”

She returns home today but despite weather conditions settling down in the two-and-a-half weeks Mrs O’Neil has been away, she is fearing the worst.

She said: “We are not looking forward to the trip back with Ryanair.”

The Telegraph & Argus contacted Leeds Bradford Airport but it did not comment as it was an pilot/airline decision.