DOZENS of holidaymakers endured “three days of hell” after their flight home from Egypt was delayed for 51 hours.

Passengers on the Thomson flight from Sharm El Sheikh to Bournemouth spent two nights in the airport – only to be twice ferried back to their hotels in the early hours after the flight was cancelled.

Reps were not allowed airside at the military airport, and confusion reigned as information boards flipped from “delayed”, to “boarding”, to “departed” and back again.

One woman suffered a seizure without access to her medication, another told how her nine-year-old daughter collapsed with exhaustion and her mother suffered an angina attack.

Children were offered cardboard boxes to keep warm in the airport, and families were disgusted to be charged £20 for a bottle of water after arriving at their hotel at 5am – outside of the “all inclusive” hours.

Everyone the Daily Echo spoke to complained of a lack on information from the Thomson reps who should have been looking after them.

And to add insult to injury many have since fallen ill with a sickness bug going round on their eventual flight home. They arrived at Bournemouth on Saturday morning – three days late.

Bournemouth resident Sara Green, who travelled with her family, called it “three days of hell” and a “nightmare”, vowing never to travel with Thomson again.

Ann Goodwin, 42, from New Milton was with a party of 13 family members and friends.

Her nine-year-old daughter collapsed with exhaustion as they searched the hotel corridors for their room at 6am after a night in the airport.

Her mother suffered an angina attack. Her disabled father was given a room he couldn’t reach up three flights of stairs.

“I couldn’t cry any more on that last day,” she said. “I was a nervous wreck. I thought we’d never see England again. It all boiled down to a lack of communication – the reps didn’t want to know. They were useless.”

Her children have both since fallen ill with the sickness bug going round on the plane.

Michelle Orchard, 42, from Corfe Mullen, said her £4,000 two-week family holiday was ruined.

The mum-of-two, who has suffered a brain injury, was unable to get her medication the first harrowing night in the airport. It was stowed in her luggage as she’d been instructed.

She had a seizure brought on by exhaustion, and had to be wheeled back to the coach on an office chair.

It left her “totally wiped out” and her children “distraught.”

She said: “We shouldn’t have been treated the way we were – it was disgusting. If only someone had been there to communicate with us – if a rep had gone on the coaches – but there was nothing.

“It has ruined a beautiful holiday – the weather, the wonderful Red Sea – it has been totally ruined.”

She added: “The fight was delayed the first night – fine – but surely by 9pm the next night when we went to the airport again they must have known if the plane was serviceable?”

Thomson said the plane suffered a technical fault. They sent engineers to repair it – but their flight was delayed. Then following “ongoing technical problems” the flight was delayed overnight for a second time.

A rescue aircraft was then sent to get people home.

Paul and Dawn Singleton from Oakdale in Poole were on the flight.

On June 30, Paul’s birthday, they spent the night waiting for the flight until it was cancelled with a fault, and spent the next night, until 5am, in the airport again until it was cancelled.

Electrician Paul said: “Thomson caused all the passengers tremendous trauma. They had a duty of care and failed miserably.”

He spent £50 making mobile phone calls to the Thomson 24-hour helpline – the only contact with the company at the airport.

He said the only person to apologise was the pilot himself and another plane should have been sent out straight away.

“It was the queuing and waiting and no one giving us any information,” he said.

“There’s 186 people who will never fly Thomson again. My major gripe is someone didn’t take control of the situation.”

In a statement Thomson Airways apologised to passengers and said its customer service team was investigating the flight delay with the resort team in Sharm el Sheikh “as a matter of urgency.”

Customers who incurred expenses were advised to contact After Travel Support Team on 0844 871 0882.