Around 200 British Airways passengers were stranded in New York after their flight from Orlando to London was diverted due to a technical fault.
Some were reported to have slept on the floor of the terminal at JFK airport for more than five hours.
Their journey from Florida on Thursday saw them land at Gatwick yesterday, 77 hours late.
BA flight 2036 was supposed to take off from Orlando on Thursday evening and arrive at Gatwick eight hours later – but it arrived in the UK on Sunday after going via New York.
After passengers waited on the aircraft in Orlando for four hours for a technical fault to be repaired they were forced to disembark and stay in a nearby hotel.
The aircraft was then diverted to New York’s JFK airport 40 minutes after take-off on Saturday.
Passenger Sarah Wilson, returning from an £11,000 family holiday to Disney World, told the BBC: “The passengers were treated inhumanely, all we wanted was some food and drink, somewhere to sleep and to be kept informed – and they failed on all counts no matter what they claim.”
BA Terminal 7 – No BA staff, no seats, no refreshments, no help! Loads of very tired children – what an end to thier Disney dream! Why land at JFK – could have gone back to Orlando and at least had a place to stay for the day. #36hrsandcounting
— Mike Clark (@mrmrmrc) November 3, 2018
Angry passengers took to social media to complain about how they had been treated.
BA apologised and confirmed its “aircraft diverted to New York on Saturday morning as a precaution, following a minor technical issue”.
“We sent a relief aircraft out to New York on Saturday morning to get customers back to London Gatwick as quickly as possible.
“Customers were rebooked where possible and while there were limited hotel rooms available, our teams on the ground cared for customers in our first class lounge providing bedding, food and drinks to ensure they were comfortable during their stay.”
The airline said it “appreciated that this was an exhausting and frustrating experience” for the more than 200 passengers on board and said sorry for the “long delay”.
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