A couple were forced to cancel their £2,000 luxury holiday after being left to sweat on a TUI flight which was delayed for 26 hours.
Joanne Thornton-Cartwright, 51, and her husband Andrew, 54, were due to fly from Birmingham Airport to Cape Verde for the holiday of a lifetime.
The couple were among passengers on the TOM704 who were left to sweat for four hours without air conditioning as they waited to take off for their all-inclusive getaway on May 21.
They were then told to disembark the plane and that their flight on Saturday would be delayed until the following day due to "technical and operational issues," reports Birmingham Live.
But when they returned to the airport on Sunday for a scheduled 1.40pm departure, passengers faced even more delays with the aircraft taking off another four hours later.
Joanne, from Kingswinford, West Midlands, said the experience left her feeling so anxious that she cancelled the entire trip and asked police to escort her back through security.
She said: "It's been a nightmare since the day we booked it.
"We booked in January and paid £185 for extra leg room seats which TUI have changed several times.
"We've had to call up again and again to sort out the seats and had more problems at the airport when we were told our row had changed again.
"The flight was constantly being delayed, it kept being put back and put back."
When passengers were finally told to board the plane, Joanne said that she and her husband were told their names were not on the list.
"I thought 'what on Earth?' but the manager came and sorted it out," she said.
"Once we got on the plane, we were stuck there for nearly four hours with no air con. Everyone was absolutely sweltering.
"We could see engineers coming on and off the plane.
"Then we got a text message to say the flight wasn't leaving that day and we all had to disembark as TUI would be putting us up in a hotel.
"It took us ages to wait for our bags, almost two hours waiting for a coach until we eventually took it upon ourselves to get a taxi to the hotel.
"We were told we'd have an evening meal provided but by the time we'd queued up for an hour, there was none left."
Airline TUI has apologised to customers, and said crew members offered "all possible support" including supplying water.
When passengers returned to the airport the following day, Joanne said there was "drama again" with further delays to the flight.
She said: "We were sat in departures and the flight time just kept getting put back again.
"At this point I was so stressed I had a panic attack in the airport. I said to my husband 'I'm not going, get me out of here'.
"We had already lost almost two days of our seven-day holiday and there was no guarantee the flight would even be leaving that day.
"I was so upset I went over to the police and said 'can you help us get out of here?'
"I'm gutted. We were looking forward to this holiday after a difficult year but it's been a complete nightmare.
"All this week we've just been thinking that we should be on the beach now, but instead we're sat in England in the rain and the cold."
TUI confirmed that customers who were given the option to cancel their holiday due to delays would receive a full refund.
A spokesperson said: "We’d like to apologise to customers travelling on flight TOM704 from Birmingham to Sal which was unable to depart as planned on Saturday, May 21, due to technical and operational issues.
"Our crew offered all possible support during the flight before everyone was safely disembarked.
"All impacted customers were offered overnight accommodation and meals, and we were in regular contact with them, advising them of their revised departure time as soon as we could.
"The safety and wellbeing of passengers and crew is always our highest priority and we’d like to thank passengers for their patience and understanding.
"Customers on this flight are entitled to compensation in line with regulations and have already been sent information on how to submit a claim.
"Customers who were given the option to cancel due to delays will receive a full refund, they will have received communications on this."
