PASSENGERS at Durham Tees Valley Airport refused to let the delays and cancellations ruin their plans - reverting to trains and cars when there were no planes.

Groups of young men and women -almost all dressed in sportswear or beach gear and carrying backpacks -were left disappointed when their afternoon flight to Newquay, Cornwall, was grounded yesterday.

But a stag party of 11 from Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, were determined to press ahead with their celebrations by making the ten-hour journey south by car.

Others were told they could take the train, return to the airport next Tuesday for a flight to the resort or travel to Manchester for a flight today.

Dr Jennifer Ingleheart, from Chester-le-Street, County Dur-ham, was one of the dozens whose trip to Newquay was ruined.

She said: "It is disappointing, but just one of those things, I suppose. I am not too keen on flying anyway, but I still would have done had the flight not been cancelled.

"It would probably have been safer than any other day because of all the heightened security."

One couple from Haughton, near Darlington, had their dream trip to Canada put on hold because of the cancellation of a connecting flight to Heathrow.

They were offered a train ticket to London, but with no guarantee that the flight would leave for Calgary, have opted to go at a later date.

Malcolm Wood and his family were among those to receive better news when they arrived at the airport yesterday afternoon for their holiday to the Canary Islands.

Mr Wood and his wife, Susan, both 43, and their soldier son Michael, from Hartlepool, were among the first to check-in for flight IWD3450 to Lanzarote.

They were arriving as the disappointed passengers from flight WW4977 - meant to leave for Newquay at 1.45pm - were heading out of the terminal.

Mr Wood said: "Of all the days for this to happen, it had to be today, but that's life, I suppose. This sort of alert does bother me, but it would never stop me going and it might be that this is the safest day ever to fly."

Passengers arriving at the airport were unaware of the news that a plot to blow up planes to the US mid-flight and cause "mass murder on an unimaginable scale" had been disrupted.

Some noticed the increased presence of police inside the Durham Tees Valley Airport terminal, but did not realise it was because the state of alert at all UK airports had been raised to critical.

John and Pat O'Neill, from Easington, County Durham, flew in from Egypt, where Mr O'Neill works as an engineer at a steel plant in Cairo.

He said: "I suppose the delays are a bit of an inconvenience for people, but it is certainly better safe than sorry."

Mrs O'Neill said: "We knew nothing about it and all our flights were on time, so there seemed to be nothing untoward.

"When we came through arrivals, we noticed that the restaurant was empty and there were not many people about and there was a presence of police, but it was still efficient.

"It is good to see the increased security and it makes you feel more secure."

A family of eight from Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, were also on the cancelled morning flight to Heathrow for the start of a trip to the US.

Instead, they made the short trip from the airport to Darlington railway station for a train to London in the hope of catching a plane to New York.

* For a video report from Durham Tees Valley, go to www.thenorthernecho.co.uk