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Icelandic budget airline WOW Air left hundreds of passengers stranded Thursday after going bust and grounding planes, sparking 'pandemonium' at airports across North America.
Footage from shows dozens of travelers waiting in a packed departure lounge after it was announced their flights had been cancelled. 
Lines of holidaymakers can be seen talking with officials after Wow Air told passengers on Thursday there would be no further flights and advised them to check with other airlines for ways to reach their destinations.
One passenger wrote: '@wowairsupport flight WW104 from #EWR was cancelled after a 4 hour delay and they gave us a $12 voucher Pandemonium at the gate. I need a refund + new earliest flight ASAP. @EWRairport'
Posting a video of a chaotic scene at Toronto airport in Canada, another added: '20 min to board, @wowairsupport cancels the flight. But then sends an email that it's just delayed until 9pm. Oh but the crew left because it was cancelled. Updates coming from the guy in the middle of this crowd.'
Another video shows customers telling workers they are 'massively inconvenienced' by the abrupt news. At Baltimore po shows dozens of travelers waiting in a packed departure lounge after it was announced their flights had been cancelled
In Europe, Reykjavik-bound planes from seven cities - Amsterdam, Dublin, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Frankfurt and Copenhagen - did not take off Thursday morning. 
Travelers took to Twitter to express their frustration. 
One wrote: 'Tempers were high last night at #yyz #wowair. I can't post anymore of this due to the swearing! The flight staff had just informed us they were in the same position as us.' 
Another compared the closure to the disastrous Fyre Festival, adding: 'Currently accepting applications to star in the documentary for @wow_air cancelling all flights and stranding me in a foreign country when the CEO is still trying to sell flights #wowair #fyrefestival2.'
One airplane from WOW was grounded as collateral by Iceland's airport operator, which reportedly has a $16 million claim for unpaid landing fees against the airline.
American Sean Tinschert and his partner had rushed to the Reykjavik airport after learning the airline had gone under.
'We are trying to figure out how to get home,' he told The Associated Press. 'We live in Boston, Massachusetts. We've got to work tomorrow morning - so don't really think that is going to happen.'
In Berlin, Mary Sapp, a 30-year-old tattoo artist from Portland, Oregon, said she found out her WOW flight from Schoenefeld Airport to Reykjavik was canceled when she arrived at the airport Thursday morning.
'I feel frantic, and my shoulders are tight,' she said as she carried a huge black backpack up a flight of stairs. 'I am just going to get some food and figure out ... where I am going to stay tonight.'
Jamey Fierce, 62, from Toronto, sat at one of the Berlin airport's coffee shops trying to figure out an affordable route to get home, thinking that maybe he could book a flight via Lisbon.
'Not only was the flight cancelled - the airline was cancelled,' said Fierce with some humor.
WOW grounded at least six planes in North America that were set to leave late Wednesday from Montreal, Toronto, Boston, Detroit, New York and Baltimore 
Its bankruptcy comes after six months of turbulent negotiations to sell its business. 
WOW saw deals fall through to sell to its main rival, the national flag-ship carrier Icelandair, and later to Indigo Partners, an American company operating the airline Wizz. 
Tourism is Iceland's largest industry and WOW's disappearance is set to have an effect on this summer's high season.
After starting operations in 2012, the airline expanded quickly to 37 destinations and reported up to 60 percent annual growth in passenger numbers. Its revenue per passenger, however, has not kept up and fell by about 20 percent in 2017, according to the last earnings report.
Stranded passengers set to travel with Icelandic airline Wow, wait in line at Iceland's international airport in Keflavik on Thursday
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WOWs' troubles have put a spotlight on how difficult it is to make budget travel across the Atlantic work financially because the biggest source of profits on these routes are higher-paying business travelers. 
Rival Norwegian Air Shuttle, which has also struggled to make profits, recently started offering 'premium' budget travel to capture some of that market.
Analysts at investment firm Stifel note that WOW accounted for just one percent of air traffic capacity between the U.S. and Europe, but that by offering low prices it put pressure on other airlines to cut fares.
They say that among competitors, United Airlines stands to gain most on U.S. routes from WOW's demise. Icelandair was quick to offer stranded WOW travelers cheap tickets .
'I will never forgive myself for not acting sooner,' said WOW founder Skuli Mogensen in a letter to employees Thursday. 'WOW was clearly an incredible airline and we were on the path to do amazing things again.'




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