Thousands of holidaymakers have battled flight cancellations and delays for a second day - this time because of a general strike in Spain.

An estimated 80,000 Britons were affected by Thursday's 24-hour walkout, with just a handful of flights heading to Spain from the UK.

Eighty per cent of Iberia flights, 50% of British Airways' flights (about 28) and hundreds of others were cancelled.

Tour operator Thomson Holidays flew just nine of its 48 scheduled flights, while MyTravel flew just six of its 54.

They rescheduled all of the other flights, mainly to Wednesday night or Friday morning.

Passengers also had to cope with disruption on Wednesday

The disruption came a day after a strike by European air traffic controllers which led to severe disruption to flights to France and southern Europe.

Most passengers were forewarned of Thursday's flight changes, so made other arrangements - but some were caught out.

One couple arrived at Leeds Bradford airport to find their flight had been rescheduled for Wednesday, and they had missed it.

Emma Pearson, 27, from East Finchley, north London, said she was "furious" after her flight from London to Barcelona with Easyjet was scrapped.

She said: "We paid �280 for a four-day break to see my brother in Barcelona and now we have the option of paying exactly the same for a one-day break or nothing at all.

"They said they e-mailed us - which is probably true - but there must be thousands of people who don't have access to e-mail at home."

Football fears

A few Britons trying to fly home were stuck at Malaga airport, which serves much of the Spanish coast - with some worried they would not be back in time for the England-Brazil match on Friday morning.

One man said: "I can afford to stay a few days, but it's the people who've rented and have got to get out of town, I feel sorry for them."

Spain has come to a halt

Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith was delayed for 90 minutes at Luton airport on his way to Spain for a meeting attended by Spanish premier Jose Maria Aznar.

Some tour operators will run additional flights within coming days to cope with the knock-on demand from Thursday's cancelled journeys.

Spanish workers were striking against reforms to unemployment benefit.

More strikes

Wednesday's strike action was in protest at an EU plan to harmonise air traffic control across member states.

Meanwhile, members of the UK air traffic controllers' union Prospect met management in London on Thursday, to seek an improved pay offer.

The two sides agreed to further talks on pay, following last week's vote by controllers to reject a pay offer worth 6% over two years.

The union warned that should a new deal not be reached, there could be a "damaging strike" during the peak summer holiday period.