A family of three has told of being "abandoned" in Turkey by TUI after the pilot and crew announced they "needed to rest".
Passengers had already been delayed for four hours ahead of the flight from İzmir Adnan Menderes Airport to Manchester Airport on Wednesday morning.
They were rushed off the plane, originally scheduled to take off around 1am, after a shock announcement by the pilot.
One passenger, who did not want to be named, told the Manchester Evening News he thought the pilot "was joking" when he asked everyone to get back off the plane "because they needed to rest'".
He said: “The flight was originally planned to leave at 12:50am, but we didn’t get ready to take off until around 5am. When we finally got on the plane, we were told to sit down as quickly as possible as there was a 15-minute slot we needed to make.
“The pilot then went on to the tannoy and said that he and the crew needed to rest due to tiredness. They explained we needed to leave the plane and we’d get transferred to a hotel and TUI would be in touch with us.
“Nobody could believe it. Everyone thought it was a joke because we’d already been delayed by four hours.
"People were shouting, there were people panicking and shouting. There were children crying and screaming, everyone was stressed out. It was absolutely crazy.”
The 40-year-old who was travelling with his wife, 33, and four year old son, said TUI took all the passengers to a hotel but asked them to hand in their duty free purchases until their flight home.
The man from Halifax, West Yorkshire, said he has epilepsy and had been trying to stay calm but claimed they had received few updates about their flight home, which was rescheduled for Wednesday evening.
He said: “We’re stuck in 40 degrees heat with no idea on what’s happening.
“We’ve not been told when we’re expected to fly back. All I’ve had is an email from TUI offering us a £150 holiday voucher.
“My wife has lost out on two days of work and my child has missed his transition day at school to meet his new teachers. We’ve been left at a hotel in the middle of a highway.
"I’m trying not to get too stressed out because of my epilepsy as it can send me into major seizures, but not knowing what is happening is the worst. If we knew what the plan was, we could make a trip out or do something.”
The passenger said the flight cancellation was the latest in a series of setbacks for they had been plagued with - having originally planned to go to Egypt instead of Turkey.
He said: “We were due to fly out to Egypt on June 22 but they cancelled the holiday two days beforehand because they said the flight was non-existent.
“We rebooked to go to Turkey on June 21 for 14 nights instead and were delayed by two and a half hours leaving Manchester.
“I won’t ever go with TUI ever again and I've spent a lot of money with them in the past. It’s been an absolute shambles, I’ve never known anything like this in all of my life.”
TUI said it had sent all passengers affected by the delay a gesture of goodwill for the inconvenience and information on how to claim compensation.
A spokesperson said: "We’d like to apologise to customers due to travel on TOM269 from Izmir to Manchester on Tuesday 5 July, which was delayed until the following day.
"This was due to an initial delay on the outbound flight which led to crew being out of hours for the return.
"We kept customers updated throughout and provided overnight accommodation, meals and refreshments as needed.
"We understand that last minute delays are incredibly disappointing and would like to reassure customers that we will never leave them stranded overseas."
