BA passengers in "hell trip" three days between Orlando and Gatwick

Hundreds of British Airways passengers said they were treated "inhumanly" during a 77-hour "hell trip" after a three-day trip to London from Florida.

Passengers complained of sleeping in airport floors and vacationers cried over the "chaotic" trip that took them home.

Flight BA 2036 was scheduled to take off from Orlando on Thursday at 19:25 (00:25 GMT) and arrive in Gatwick eight hours later, but arrived Sunday in the UK after passing through New York.

BA is excused from the passengers.

The airline said "to realize that it was an exhausting and frustrating experience" for the more than 200 passengers on board and apologized for the "long delay".

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Passenger Sarah Wilson, whose "dream vacation" as a family at Disney World "has turned into a nightmare," accused BA of "dropping her passengers when they needed help the most".

"BA's customer service was disgusting, absolutely obnoxious," said the mother of four from Undy in Monmouthshire, whose flights to Florida alone cost more than £ 4,000.

"The passengers were treated inhumanely, all we wanted was food and drink, a place to sleep and be kept informed – and they failed on all counts, whatever they claim. "

The flight was due to leave Orlando on Thursday night, but after the passengers had waited for four hours for a technical repair to be repaired, they were forced to disembark and stay in a nearby hotel.

"Imagine 200 people coming in early to check in at a hotel," Wilson said. "It was chaos and there was no BA representative in sight who was taking charge.

The 44-year-old coach's return to Orlando airport was delayed twice before leaving at 8:00 pm ET on Friday.

After departing the flight for Gatwick at 1 am ET on Saturday, Ms. Wilson stated that the flight had been diverted to JFK New York City Airport 40 minutes after takeoff.

"The captain said about the tannoy that the initial problem had returned," said Wilson.

"They had to let go of the landing gear, lose fuel to lighten the plane and turn away from New York, which was the hardest of the hours and a half I've had. on a flight, aggravated by sickness trips.

"The children had panic attacks, the turbulence was terrible and people were scared, tired and hungry.

"When we arrived at JFK, we first had to wait until 6:00 am ET for the BA staff to arrive, then we were told that there was no food to wait for and that it would be difficult to find a hotel because the New York City marathon was going on everywhere.

"A mother asked where to find the baby formula for her seven-month-old baby and she replied," It would be hard to find anywhere at this time. "She was in tears.

"The kids were sleeping on JFK Terminal 7 but my husband found a hotel in Queens so we could sleep for a few hours, but we paid for it ourselves.

The passengers finally left the United States on Saturday night and returned to London on Sunday morning.

"It was a terrible experience, but the problem with BA is the problem," added Wilson.

"There are unfortunate things going on, but that's the way you handle a crisis that's important, and BA did not have an emergency plan.

"Their communication with the passengers – most of whom were out of their own hands at the end – was non-existent.

"So much so that they ended up feeding us in the JFK BA's office Saturday night, without telling anyone, we discovered it by chance, but most of the passengers did not know it.

"I'm happy to be at home, but to top it off, my suitcase is still at JFK – I confess to having cried a bit." The passengers cried a lot.

"It was the trip from hell when it was supposed to be a vacation of a lifetime that we had saved for years."

British Airways apologized and confirmed that his "hijacked plane to New York Saturday morning as a precaution, as a result of a minor technical problem"

"We sent a rescue plane to New York on Saturday morning to bring the customers back to London Gatwick as soon as possible.

"The guests have been re-booked as far as possible and even though the number of available hotel rooms was limited, our field staff took care of our guests in our first class lounge: bedding, food and drinks needed to make their stay comfortable. "