A FAMILY hoping to spend its first Christmas together in 12 years have had their dream reunion plans dashed after being caught up in the snow chaos at Heathrow airport.

Mike and Nicky Hunter and their twins Jonathon and Zoe, 15, of Meadow Croft, Troutbeck, planned to spend Christmas at their second home in Palm Springs, Los Angeles, with Mr Hunter’s sons from his first marriage, Dan, 25, and Tom, 23.

But after boarding their Virgin Atlantic flight on Saturday, heavy snowfall trapped them in the plane for seven hours while the British Airports Authority decided whether it was safe to take off.

Snow stopped falling after an hour but it was not until 7pm that the captain announced the flight was cancelled – leaving their luggage full of Christmas presents trapped in the hold.

“We haven’t had all four children together in 12 years as my eldest two live in Belgium.

"It was something we’d been looking forward to so much and we’re absolutely heartbroken,” said Mr Hunter, a management consultant.

“We’ll have a nice Christmas at home but it won’t be the same.”

The family tried to re-book flights for the following day but were blocked from entering Virgin Atlantic’s office in the departures area by security guards.

“I fly regularly with my job but scenes at Heathrow were worse than when I flew the day after 9/11.

"Virgin Atlantic weren’t giving us any information, you couldn’t get back into departures to rebook, people were stranded without any help or support.”

When the price of flights online rocketed by more than £1,000 in just 40 minutes the family decided not to re-book and faced up to the prospect of Christmas back in Cumbria.

Friends offered them a place to stay while they tracked down their bags but they decided to drive home: “We couldn’t just hang around Heathrow for days on end, so we left and hoped Virgin would courier up the bags once they’d been found, but we’ve now been told we can’t get them sent to us until January 5,” said Mr Hunter.

He is now contemplating driving back to Heathrow himself to pick up the bags so his children can get their clothes and presents in time for Christmas.

“I can’t believe that just an hour-and-a-half of snow has resulted in this.

"I fly all over the world to places that have really severe weather and airports cope.

"We’ll make the best we can of Christmas but it won’t be the same as being in LA with all of the family,” he added.