Holidaymakers were left "sweating" on a TUI plane with no air conditioning for four hours waiting for a take-off that never came.
Passengers flying to Cape Verde from Birmingham Airport on Saturday lost a full day of their all inclusive holidays after the flight was delayed by 26 and a half hours due to "technical and operational issues" onboard the TOM704.
After being held on the aircraft at BHX for several hours - and apparently offered only half a glass of water each to drink - families were told to disembark as the flight wouldn't be able to leave until the next day, Birmingham Live reports.
Airline TUI has apologised to customers, and said crew members offered "all possible support" including supplying water. But on returning to the airport that Sunday, after being put up by TUI in a nearby hotel, passengers faced yet another three-hour delay.
Stuart Stupar, 48, from Market Harborough, was travelling with partner Sarah Burton, 41, on a seven-day all-inclusive package holiday.
He said: "Just before we arrived at the airport for our 2.20pm flight, we had a text saying it had been delayed to 3.30pm, which we didn't think was too bad. We boarded just after 3pm but then we were sat on the plane for ages - it kept turning on and off and on and off again.
"The captain came over the tannoy and said something was wrong with the power supply and that was why there was no air conditioning. People were visibly sweating, I mean dripping with sweat, it was red hot. There were kids screaming.
"People were asking for drinks but we were told they couldn't open the bar. At one point, the crew came round with half a glass of water for everyone - that's all we were given.
"After about three and a half hours they opened the back doors of the plane, it was so hot in there. We were told a couple of times that the plane would be fixed in 30 minutes, but just before 7pm we were told the problem couldn't be solved in the time that the cabin crew could still fly."
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Stuart said passengers were told they would be picked up the next morning for a 1.40pm flight - but then received another message when they arrived at the airport that departure had been pushed back to 4.20pm.
"We were given a £10 voucher to use in the airport, which gets you hardly anything," said Stuart.
"We couldn't get a Burger King or a hot meal with that. The night before, we had dinner and orange juice or water provided with the meal at the hotel, but the rest of the night we had to pay for our own drinks - bearing in mind we were all booked on all inclusive holidays. It was £11 for a glass of wine at the hotel.
"We're only here for a week so this has eaten into our holiday. We were supposed to get here Saturday evening around 7pm, but we didn't end up getting here until Sunday night at 11pm.
"If we hadn't been delayed two days in a row, it wouldn't be as bad. As far as I'm concerned, we should be compensated for a cancelled flight and for the delayed flight the next day."
Another passenger, Laura McCabe, 32, who was travelling for her husband Marc's 40th birthday, said: "When I say it was warm on the plane, people were having to fan themselves. It was so hot, there were children crying, parents were having to strip their kids off.
"The captain kept telling us he was confident we would be in the air in 30 minutes. Passengers were getting quite fed up - it got to the point that every time there was another announcement, people were just laughing.
"Sometime after 7pm we noticed our bags being taken off the aircraft, and then we were told we wouldn't be going anywhere - that TUI was sorting out accommodation for us, which is fine, some problems can't be helped.
"But it was the false promises that had everyone annoyed, and the fact there was no fresh air, no air con and only half a glass of tepid water. Once we got off the plane, there was no TUI rep in sight. We didn't know where we were going.
"When we got back to check in the next day, we were told the flight had changed from a 1pm flight to a 3.30pm flight and then that became 4.40pm, but we didn't take off until 5.40pm.
"Again there was a complete lack of communication to tell us what was going on, it was unbelievable.
"We've got three young children at home and this is the first and last holiday we'll do without them - it's my husband's 40th birthday so this is a one-off treat for us that took a lot of planning with grandparents to be able to do this. We're only here for seven days so we've more or less lost two nights because of this."
Laura, from east Yorkshire, said she had already applied for compensation from the delay, but added: "It's not necessarily about the money for us, it's more the stress it caused.
"There were people in tears at the airport because a lot of people can't afford luxury holidays like this very often. It's heartbreaking."
A TUI 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."
TUI said it is not allowed to open the bar while the aircraft is still on the ground but that water was supplied to customers.
