A bride has vowed to never fly with TUI again following a 34-hour delay from Bristol to her wedding in Greece.
Gwenllian Lewis-Ashton, 27, and Jonathan Ashton, 37, said they heard a "big bang" as lightning struck their plane on take-off and claimed the pilot flew for more than an hour before turning back to Bristol airport.
The couple and their wedding party said they experienced more than 30 hours of "appalling" communication and delays.
Nurse Gwenllian and retail manager Jonathan's wedding was postponed from 2021 to June 5 this year because of Covid-19, WalesOnline reports.
The couple had arranged to travel with 14 family members and friends to Santorini through a TUI package costing more than £3,000.
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Gwenllian said recent reports of huge queues at Bristol Airport led them to arrive early for their 6am flight on May 31.
She said: "We stayed up all night and left our home at midnight to ensure we got to Bristol on time.
"Despite being early we still queued a few hours to check-in but managed to skip through security after purchasing fast-track.
"With a late call to the gate, all 16 of our wedding party, including my 85-year-old grandmother and two-year-old niece, managed to get on the plane.
"An announcement was made to say the plane had missed its slot and had a 12-minute delay to wait for the next.
"At this point, we were just happy to be on that plane hassle-free."
Once on the plane, the nightmare continued with the flight disrupted by severe weather.
The bride added: "During take-off, the plane was struck by lightning, where all passengers heard a big bang and some claimed to have seen the lightning.
"Jonathan thought the engine had blown off. It happened just as we took off and the plane was in the air.
"The captain spoke to us and confirmed we were struck by lightning but reassured us that the aircraft was built to withstand things like that.
"We continued to fly for over an hour. We were over Luxembourg when the captain made another announcement, declaring he had to return the aircraft to Bristol for engineers to inspect following the earlier incident. It was definitely a big frustration that we'd carried on for so long."
On their return, the wedding party went through passport control, claimed their baggage and received £10 vouchers from TUI for food at the airport.
Gwenllian said they waited two hours for a bus to the Bristol Hotel where the travel agency put them up for the night.
She added: "The lack of communication only made the situation more stressful due to the unknown of when or if the flight would be rescheduled at all.
"We rang the TUI support line several times and they didn't know what was happening.
"It wasn't until 2.40am the following day that we received an email stating the flight was rescheduled for 1pm."
Gwenllian added the original aircraft had flown to Tenerife the same day so her group was bewildered as to why it could not have gone that afternoon.
She said: "Our rescheduled flight was delayed an hour. While waiting to take off we were informed that there was no hot food available.
"We were delayed a total of 34 hours, resulting in two days lost of our holiday, but also our wedding planning, where we were required to meet vendors and view the venues for the special day. It had to be a bit rushed.
"We were all exhausted. My grandmother Joan is still recovering. But we were very relieved to get there and the wedding day was lovely.
"Ahead of the return flight, we were delayed two hours in a hot and small airport, to be informed that there was minimal snacks and drinks available and no duty-free shop.
"Once we arrived back in Bristol we were of course greeted with a two-hour wait for baggage. This was the last thing we all needed at the end of a cut-short holiday."
The newlyweds claimed compensation from TUI but were rejected.
Jonathan said: "They said something about natural disasters when we asked why."
Gwenllian added: "We will never fly with TUI again after their poor communication and dreadful customer service and urge all future customers to think again about who they chose to fly with.
"We were going to go for a little honeymoon this weekend but all the flights were TUI so we thought, 'Don't bother.'"
A TUI spokeswoman said: “We’re incredibly sorry to the wedding party on flight TOM6212 from Bristol to Santorini who experienced some disruption to their flight due to a lightning strike.
"The safety of our passengers and crew was not compromised and always remains our highest priority. The aircraft was not damaged in any way and was completely safe to land.
"We aim to communicate with customers as quickly as we can if there are any changes to their holiday and offer transport, overnight accommodation, meals and refreshments as needed.
"We understand that last-minute delays and cancellations are incredibly disappointing, and we would like to reassure them that did everything we can to get them to enjoy the celebrations as planned.
"We’d like to apologise again for the inconvenience caused and we thank customers for their understanding.”
