Picture the scene – you’ve boarded your plane, buckled your seatbelt and switched your phone to flight mode. 

Then the pilot comes over the tannoy. The flight is delayed, it can’t leave the tarmac – and you don’t know how long you’ll be waiting for.

It’s an experience that will be familiar to many passengers who were trying to travel on Monday as air traffic control issues caused havoc.

Through the ovals of thick glass, you can see the airport terminal – with all the legroom and overpriced coffee it offers.

So why can’t you get off the plane and head back there?

Sky News talks to Sean Tipton, spokesperson for the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA), about why that isn’t the solution it might seem to be.

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If there are issues with air traffic control systems – as we saw on Monday – the aircraft is waiting for a slot to open up so it can take off.

“That’s something of a moveable feast,” Mr Tipton said.

The length of delay might not be clear at the outset. The plane might be offered a slot in an hour’s time, which then gets delayed again.

The plane needs to be ready to go when a slot comes free. That’s not possible if hundreds of passengers are loitering around the gate.

Getting everyone off a plane takes time, and boarding processes would need to happen again to make sure every passenger was back on board. In that time, the flight could miss its slot.

“That would cause even longer delays,” Mr Tipton said.

It’s “obviously annoying” if you’re sitting on a plane on the tarmac for two or three hours, but it’s “actually for the convenience of passengers”, he added.

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In Europe, rules state passengers must be offered the option to get off the plane after they have been on the tarmac for five hours.

It’s rare a tarmac delay would reach that length, Mr Tipton said.

Airlines have an obligation to offer reasonable refreshments if the delay is more than two hours for short-haul flights.

While staff might be limited by the practicalities of what’s on board, he said they are normally good with distributing snacks and water to passengers.

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