A mum has shared her horrifying ordeal after allegedly being forced to spend 10 hours with her toddler at Heathrow airport due to delays – and having to shell out £375 for an overnight hotel, food and clothes.

Brianne Bartolini, 33, was travelling to Rome with her two-year-old daughter, Bridget, when the pair got caught up in travel chaos.

Scheduled to leave at 2 pm on 28 August, the flight was already delayed by five and a half hours by the time the mum arrived at the airport.

Feeling hopeful that it wouldn’t be much longer, she checked in their bags and went through security – but a nightmare ensued.

Hunkering down in the airport, Brianne joined the crowd at customer services to try and get answers.

“When I got over to customer service, they weren’t answering individual questions, just yelling to the crowd that air traffic control was done and that everyone was delayed, but that international flights would be leaving,” Brianne, who is a chief content officer, from Rome, said.

“I managed to book a new flight to Naples (it wasn’t showing as cancelled yet) and ask a BA staffer about moving my bag.

“She said not to worry about my bag, but just take the flight if I was able to and worry about the bag after.

“[Then] I walked to the other side of the terminal where a [different] worker told me that all flights were going to be cancelled.”

Unsure how to proceed, Brianne stayed in the airport until 9.30 pm but, with her toddler in tow, knew she had to act.

So the mum decided to book a hotel and try for a flight again the next day – leaving her out of pocket for a pricey last-minute stay.

Unfortunately, however, she claims she was still not able to get her bag, meaning she couldn’t get clean clothes for herself or her child.

She said: “I went to reclaim my bag and – of course – our flight to Rome was one of 50 flights that would not be reclaiming luggage.

“I had packed almost everything in there because it’s difficult having a carry-on and a toddler and a stroller.

“We were out of clean clothes anyway because we’d stayed three days longer [in London] than planned, and by now it was 10.30 pm so we couldn’t even stop at a store.”

Thankfully, with a little luck, the mum finally got on a plane the morning after – but she claims to still not have received her luggage.

She said: “I was able to book a 9 am flight for Tuesday morning from Heathrow to Perugia.

“We slept for about five hours and went back to the airport to try it all over again.

“We arrived in Perugia yesterday afternoon, without our luggage, and then drove two hours to our home in Rome.”

Brianne claims she spent upwards of £375 due to the delays by paying for food, a hotel and replacement clothing.

Despite everything, she has still praised the efforts of British Airways staff during the chaos.

The mum added: “I think that British Airways staff did an excellent job of staying cool under pressure and helping where they could.

“I am grateful that they were pleasant to deal with even though it was a stressful day for them.”

British Airways was contacted for comment.

A representative said: “Like other airlines operating in the UK, we are continuing to experience the knock-on effects of NATS Air Traffic Control issue, which includes unavoidable delays and cancellations.

“Customers travelling today on short-haul services can move their flight to a later date free of charge if they wish, subject to availability.

“We’ve apologised for the huge inconvenience caused, which was outside of our control and thank our customers for their patience as we work hard to get back on track.”

A mum has shared her horrifying ordeal after allegedly being forced to spend 10 hours with her toddler at Heathrow airport due to delays – and having to shell out £375 for an overnight hotel, food and clothes.

Brianne Bartolini, 33, was travelling to Rome with her two-year-old daughter, Bridget, when the pair got caught up in travel chaos.

Scheduled to leave at 2pm on 28 August, the flight was already delayed by five and a half hours by the time the mum arrived at the airport.

Feeling hopeful that it wouldn’t be much longer, she checked in their bags and went through security – but a nightmare ensued.

Hunkering down in the airport, Brianne joined the crowd at customer services to try and get answers.

“When I got over to customer service, they weren’t answering individual questions, just yelling to the crowd that air traffic control was done and that everyone was delayed, but that international flights would be leaving,” Brianne, who is a chief content officer, from Rome, told http://NeedToKnow.co.uk.

“I managed to book a new flight to Naples (it wasn’t showing as cancelled yet) and ask a BA staffer about moving my bag.

“She said not to worry about my bag, but just take the flight if I was able to and worry about the bag after.

“[Then] I walked to the other side of the terminal where a [different] worker told me that all flights were going to be cancelled.”

Unsure how to proceed, Brianne stayed in the airport until 9.30pm but, with her toddler in tow, knew she had to act.

So the mum decided to book a hotel and try for a flight again the next day – leaving her out of pocket for a pricey last-minute stay.

Unfortunately, however, she claims she was still not able to get her bag, meaning she couldn’t get clean clothes for herself or her child.

She said: “I went to reclaim my bag and – of course – our flight to Rome was one of 50 flights that would not be reclaiming luggage.

“I had packed almost everything in there because it’s difficult having a carry-on and a toddler and a stroller.

“We were out of clean clothes anyway because we’d stayed three days longer [in London] than planned, and by now it was 10.30pm so we couldn’t even stop at a store.”

Thankfully, with a little luck, the mum finally got on a plane the morning after – but she claims to still not have received her luggage.

She said: “I was able to book a 9am flight for Tuesday morning from Heathrow to Perugia.

“We slept for about five hours and went back to the airport to try it all over again.

“We arrived in Perugia yesterday afternoon, without our luggage, and then drove two hours to our home in Rome.”

Brianne claims she spent upwards of £375 due to the delays by paying for food, a hotel and replacement clothing.

Despite everything, she has still praised the efforts of British Airways staff during the chaos.

The mum added: “I think that British Airways staff did an excellent job of staying cool under pressure and helping where they could.

“I am grateful that they were pleasant to deal with even though it was a stressful day for them.”

Jam Press has contacted British Airways for comment.

A representative said: “Like other airlines operating in the UK, we are continuing to experience the knock-on effects of NATS Air Traffic Control issue, which includes unavoidable delays and cancellations.

“Customers travelling today on short-haul services can move their flight to a later date free of charge if they wish, subject to availability.

“We’ve apologised for the huge inconvenience caused, which was outside of our control and thank our customers for their patience as we work hard to get back on track.”