Sixty hours after they departed Bermuda, the passengers of Tuesday night's flight to London finally arrived at Gatwick Airport — 45 minutes after Thursday's flight landed.

Harsh winter weather caused Gatwick Airport to be closed on Wednesday morning, causing Tuesday night's British Airways flight to London to be diverted to Amsterdam.

According to a spokesperson for the airline, the plane and crew arrived in London on Thursday after the airport was reopened, but the passengers of the packed flight remained stranded in Amsterdam for two nights.

Kimberly Caines, along with other passengers who were trying to reach London, landed at Gatwick at around 8.44 a.m. Bermuda time, 60 hours after she set out from Bermuda. "The ironic thing was that our bags were on the same conveyor as the Bermuda flight, which arrived about 45 minutes earlier," she said. "We were informed (Thursday) night that we had to leave at 8 a.m. for a flight at 10 a.m. We knew we were probably going to leave because they gave us a gate number.

"We got there and we were meandering around the gates. We were about 85 percent sure, but there was still that worry because we had the same experience the day before."

Jennifer Burgess said yesterday that her 19-year-old daughter, Janeigh, was stressed by the experience, but ready to return to class at Kingston University.

"I must admit that BA took good care of her even though they said very little about what was going on," she said. "They put her up at the Mercure Airport Hotel for the first night, and Holiday Inn for the second night.

"She was quite frazzled because she had been doing quite a lot of travelling and just wanted to get back to her flat in Surrey."

Gianluca Gibbons, 18, was scheduled to travel through Heathrow to Spain before being stranded in Amsterdam.

Despite the change in flight plans, Mr. Gibbons landed safely in Valencia on Thursday after spending the night in Amsterdam.

Sallie Singleton, a local BA representative, apologised for the delays and cancellations, saying: "The severe weather has played havoc with travel all across Europe."

The weather, which has blanketed Britain in snow and dropped temperatures to -20 Celsius in some areas, could continue for another week, causing further flight and train cancellations.

"We would advise people travelling to check the website before they go to the airport," said Ms Singleton.

• For the most up to date travel information, visit the BA website at www.ba.com