By Laura Smith-Spark BBC News Online

Members of a Bavarian choir sang to keep their spirits up overnight

The 73-strong party was among thousands of passengers suffering as a result of British Airways staff shortages which led to dozens of cancelled flights.

The choir's nightmare began on Monday as the departure board showed their plane delayed, delayed again - and then gone from the screen altogether.

With nowhere else to go, they gave an impromptu show in the airport lounge.

We feel dirty - we have no toothbrush, no clothes, no way to clean up Gerda Jungkunz, travelling with the choir BA flight chaos in second day

Choir member Gerhard Jungkunz, 52, said: "When we had been at the airport six or seven hours, about 0030 BST, we saw many people were nervous.

"Our choir started to sing to motivate us - and the other people waiting all clapped.

"Half an hour later they [BA] came in and said 'leave the room' but there was nobody to tell us where to go.

"Then in the morning one of the ladies was upset so we had a little concert just for us. This was our way to keep us awake and keep us going."

A cancelled flight means Linda Rusk misses an important conference

But after a night sleeping on the airport floor and no flight to Frankfurt until Tuesday evening, the choir's resignation was turning to anger.

One diabetic member was without his vital insulin supply, packed in baggage which had been checked in.

Mr Jungkunz said their experience had ruined what had been a successful trip to sing in Stoke-on-Trent, twinned with their home town of Erlangen in Bavaria.

His wife Gerda, also 52, said: "We feel dirty - we have no toothbrush, no clothes, no way to clean up."

Other passengers booked on the 25 flights cancelled on Monday continued to suffer on Tuesday, as a further 31 flights were pulled by BA because of "knock-on effects".

'No explanation'

Physicist Robin Devenish, 62, from Oxford, joined a long queue at the BA ticket office in a second attempt to make it to Hamburg.

He said: "I was here for four hours yesterday. The flight was on the board as 'delayed' when I arrived on time at 1850 but at 2300 BST they said it was cancelled.

"There was no-one to explain. It wouldn't surprise me if the flight this afternoon is cancelled again.

The choir slept on the floor after the flight was cancelled late at night

"I cannot understand why they didn't let us know what the problem was last night."

Richard Attinger, travelling from Bath with wife Britta and two-year-old daughter Georgina, was also queuing after their Tuesday morning plane to Munich was axed.

He said: "It's the first time I've ever had a cancelled flight. The only problem we have is with the baby, who will probably scream all afternoon."

For science marketing executive Linda Rusk, a cancelled BA flight to Stockholm meant she would miss an important conference.

'Understand their anger'

The 41-year-old from Cambridge said: "In a way it's not so bad for me because I'm on business.

"I think it's frustrating especially if you are a family and have kids because your time is limited and you have booked hotels. I can understand their anger."

Technician Larry Pate, 38, from Wiesbaden in Germany, was forced to fly from Frankfurt to London's City Airport and then travel on by coach to his original destination of Heathrow.

"I'm about three hours late for a meeting," he said.

We wanted to go home and tell people how great Britain is Choir member Gerhard Jungkunz

"Usually if a flight is cancelled they try to put you on another flight to the same airport but they didn't give us any choice."

Erhard and Gisela Buchau, both 70 and also with the Bavarian choir, decided to go sightseeing in central London while they waited for their rescheduled flight.

Mrs Buchau said: "We are very angry. We had no hotel, we were left to stay in the airport all night."

Her husband said: "It is bad luck that they [BA] don't have enough staff but it is not good enough."

Mr Jungkunz agreed: "We wanted to go home and tell people how great Britain is and until yesterday we all loved it.

"Now when we hear British Airways [mentioned], we will tell our own daughter, brother, whoever, to forget it."