British Airways has been accused of holding customers "hostage" after cancelling more than 2,000 tickets because the price advertised was too cheap.

The tickets were cancelled after the airline noticed they had been sold for £1 plus airport taxes, which can still total several hundred pounds.

Ali Shah from agency Travel Up - the company most customers booked their flight through said he believes BA should honour tickets that have already been purchased .

"This situation is very frustating for us and for all of our customers that have been affected and we are trying our best to offer whatever compensation we can.

"British Airways should honour the price that was quoted because the customers booked their flights in good faith."

"I can understand British Airways position, it was a mistake, mistakes happen, it was a human error and that is understandable and they have offered a £100 voucher to customers.

"The cost of the flight was only £1 however the price shown online was £250 with £249 paying for tax.

"Although this is cheap customers do not have access to the breakdown of the price, so they would not have known the flight was £1.

"Without error the flight would usually cost around £450.

"BA and ourselves have set up dedicated teams to deal with the issue," he added.

Travel Up customer Noa Bodner told ITV News she was "in tears" when an email stating her ticket was invalid appeared in her inbox.

"Call me emotional but I was planning on going to a family wedding and seeing my new born niece.

"It's a bit like being held hostage."

Another customer, Ritchie Corbett, said he's lost almost £3000 due to the error.

"They're holding us to ransom and saying 'pay us another £3000, if you want to get on this plane' - we've already paid to get on the plane.

"I know my wife is pretty good on the research and they weren't unbelievably cheap - I mean they were about £290 each."

Mr Corbett who runs an accountancy firm in Liverpool said he hopes BA does "the right thing" in the end.

"I'm quite a determined when I need to be and we'll just go on and hope that someone sees sense," he said.

A statement from British Airways said: "We're very sorry and have fully refunded these tickets, as well as offering a voucher to apologise for the inconvenience.

"While we are unable to honour these bookings, we are encouraging customers to contact us if they have incurred non-refundable expenses, so that we can discuss how to help them."