People have said their “paradise” holiday to Cape Verde turned into a “nightmare” because their flight back to Birmingham Airport was delayed by 20 hours.
Passengers were due to go on TUI’s TOM705 from Sal to BHX.
But some said they were stuck at the airport for five hours with "no information", with their flight delayed and eventually cancelled.
Birmingham Live reports that It wasn't until the passengers were back on a coach to a hotel that they were told there had been a "medical emergency" on board the outgoing flight, forcing the pilot to land in Tenerife.
A TUI spokesperson said the airline did "everything it could" to get people home as quickly as possible, while one passenger said his appeal for compensation had already been rejected.
Natalie Elward, a passenger from Cardiff, said "rumours started to fly" when the departure board in Sal Airport was switched off.
"My husband was on a Facebook group for our hotel and someone had mentioned on there that something had happened to the flight," said Natalie, 38.
"It was all whispers and rumours, nobody was sure what was going on.
"I'm disabled and I have to use a wheelchair when I go through the airport. I was stuck in it for six hours just waiting for someone to tell us what was going on.
"If we weren't with the friends we were with, I would have cried. I was in a lot of pain. Eventually one of the airport staff came over and said we definitely weren't flying until the morning.
"We didn't get any details about what was going on until we were on a coach going to the hotel. That's why people were going mad, no one knew what was happening.
"We had to go back and collect our baggage then the whole flight was queuing for the coach, which was going back and forth. It was a nightmare.
"Obviously everyone understood that a poor man's health comes first, but it was the lack of communication, it was so stressful."
Natalie added: "The holiday was a dream, it was paradise. We were staying in a five star hotel, all inclusive up until that point.
"But once you get into the mode of going home, we just wanted to get out of there."
And there was more confusion the next morning, after some people missed a 10.14pm email from TUI while they were asleep, saying their rescheduled flight had been pushed back to later that morning.
Tim Bingle, who travelled to Birmingham Airport from Buckinghamshire, said: "We were told originally that a coach would be picking us up at 4.15am the next morning so my wife and I went to bed at 10pm.
"We got up about 3.30am, got all of our stuff ready and went over to reception, only to find a note stuck on the counter saying the flight time had changed and the pick-up time would now be 7.30am.
"What were we meant to do at that point?
"I told the TUI rep when the coach turned up that we'd been waiting there three and a half hours and they said an email had been sent about 10.30pm the night before.
"But of course most people were asleep by that point. It's ridiculous."
He added: "The whole thing was horrendous. It's one of the worst holidays I've ever been on in my life.
"I understand planes get diverted and people get ill, but at the end of the day it just comes down to communication and we were given no information until much later on."
The plane finally touched down in Birmingham 19 hours and 23 minutes later than scheduled, which passengers say was followed by another 50 minute delay while they waited for steps to become available.
Tim says his claim for compensation from TUI has been rejected on the grounds it was caused by a medical incident.
He said: "People were getting very stressed and very aggravated by the end.
"The very least they could have done is offer us a free drink on the plane but we didn't even get that, it was a complete farce.
"I 100% won't be flying with TUI again."
A TUI spokesperson said: "We can confirm that TOM705 from Sal to Birmingham on February 12 was delayed due to a passenger on the outbound flight requiring urgent medical attention.
"We understand delays can be frustrating, but we did everything we could to get passengers home as quickly as possible.
"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."
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