The women were among a number of passengers forced to reschedule travel plans after their flight home from Glasgow was cancelled.

As a partial reopening of Glasgow Airport got underway yesterday following the terror attack, the 16-strong party made alternative arrangements and took a ferry crossing back to Belfast.

En route to Stranraer, the exhausted group were told there was a problem on the rail line and they would instead have to travel by bus to make the Stena Line crossing.

The girls were in Glasgow for the hen party of Belfast bride-to-be Helena Kelly, who is getting married to Neil McLean later this month.

One of the party, Michelle McTernan, said Glasgow was on high alert but everyone was going about their business as usual.

"There's a huge police presence in the city at the moment but apart from that, it seems quite normal," she said.

"I was out shopping yesterday afternoon when my husband rang to tell me the news. Because we'd been out, we hadn't heard what had happened.

"At that time, we were told that it was too early to say if we would be able to fly home or not."

The girls contacted Glasgow Airport yesterday but were told that their flight was one of many that had been cancelled.

Michelle said: "We decided just to pay the extra £40 and make sure that we got home, so we all booked ourselves onto the boat from Stranraer," she said.

"Unfortunately, on the way to Stranraer we were told there was something wrong with the (rail) line, so we've been divided up into groups on different buses instead.

"At this stage, everyone's in pretty good humour, but we're all tired and just wanting to get home now.

"It's a real inconvenience but at least we're not stranded at the airport."