It should have been just hours before Mark and Caroline Gittins flew from Gatwick Airport to Madeira to celebrate his 60th birthday.
But instead, the pair spent 15 hours trying to reach their destination, only to end up back where they started.
Due to strong winds, their EasyJet flight was diverted to Tenerife last Sunday. After two hours there, the passengers were flown back to Gatwick.
EasyJet apologized but said customer and crew safety was its priority.
Mr Gittins, who lives in Finchampstead in Berkshire, told the BBC the whole experience was “hard to believe”.
“Being on the road for 15 hours when the ultimate goal is your own home is totally surreal and we’re in shock,” he said. “If anyone had said that would be the result, we would never have believed it.”
The Gittins arrived at Gatwick at 3:40am on Sunday morning to check in. Their flight was delayed about an hour, but soon they were on their way.
At the start of the flight, passengers were told there were strong winds over Madeira, but the captain said he hoped they would ease.
But a few hours later it became known that the plane was diverted to Tenerife because of the weather conditions.
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“We weren’t overly concerned, we were told that this is not very unusual and that we will likely be sitting on the floor of Tenerife South Airport for a couple of hours before continuing on to Madeira,” Mr Gittins said.
“But after 30 minutes the captain came back and said, ‘Sorry, that’s not good news.’ Then everything collapsed.”
The plane took off again, but instead of Madeira this time it was going back to Gatwick, arriving at 6pm that day.
Mr Gittins says he has “a major problem” with how EasyJet treated them on the way back to the UK.
“The biggest problem was all the false promises the airline made,” he says.
“On the return flight, the captain and flight attendants kept reassuring us and said they would arrange alternative flights, accommodation and meal vouchers and take us back to Madeira, but none of that happened. They just got off at Gatwick with no information.”
The couple said they were refunded by Tui, the travel company they booked their holiday with, and managed to book another last-minute trip to France to celebrate Mr Gittins’ birthday.
However, they said they felt “completely let down” by EasyJet.
“I don’t think they should raise people’s expectations like that and give them all this false hope that they’re going to get you where you’re going the next day,” Mr Gittins said.
An EasyJet spokesman said: “The safety and welfare of our customers and crew is EasyJet’s top priority and our crew have done everything possible to minimize the impact of the disruption on customers by providing complimentary refreshments on board.”
EasyJet said customers were informed of their options to rebook or get a refund upon arrival at Gatwick on Sunday evening, along with information on arranging hotel accommodation and meals if required.
The spokesman added: “We are sorry to hear that this has not been passed on [the Gittins]. Our team will be in touch with customers to apologize for their experience and to offer them any further assistance they may need.
“While this was out of our control, we would like to apologize to all customers for the weather-related inconvenience.”
While weather conditions were to blame for the problems on the Gittins’ journey, disruption has affected thousands of other British travelers in recent weeks.
Airports and airlines shedding jobs during the Covid lockdown are struggling to hire staff as furlough demand has returned. The UK is about to enter the crucial summer holiday season as schools begin to disband.
On Tuesday, Heathrow Airport urged airlines to halt summer ticket sales as Britain’s biggest airport struggles with air travel recovery.
The airport limits the number of passengers that can depart daily during the peak summer months to 100,000, 4,000 fewer than currently planned.
Heathrow isn’t the only one introducing restrictions. Gatwick capped daily flights a few weeks ago.
But his move is likely to cause even more trouble for travelers in what is already a pretty miserable summer.
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