A British family-of-five have claimed they were consigned to sleep on the floor of an airport after easyJet 'dumped' them in the wrong country.
Darren Rainey, 41, was flying from Luton to the Greek island of Crete with his family when the plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Croatia after a staff member fell ill.
The father-of-three said passengers were forced to wait on board the grounded flight while another member of staff to step in was tracked down.
After an hour and a half passed, EasyJet told travellers they would have to stay in the Croatian city of Split overnight after efforts to find a replacement ended in failure.
EasyJet told travellers that they would have to stay in the Croatian city of Split overnight
| GETTYMr Rainey said: "It must have been 90 minutes and they turned around and said they were going to remove us all off the plane because they couldn't get anyone else.
"We got all our luggage, came off the plane, went through passport control and they told us where to meet."
The Hertfordshire father alleged that the airline had pledged to put passengers up in hotels - but after another hour had passed, told customers to sort accommodation out for themselves.
The 41-year-old added: "At this point, we've come off the plane and the shops in Split airport are all shut so I couldn't feed my family - there was no food and no restaurants around."
Mr Rainey said he was left with no choice but stay on the 'rock hard' floor in the airport (file photo)
|GETTY
After not being able to fork out for two additional hotel rooms for his wife and three teenagers, he was left with no choice but stay on the "rock hard" floor in the airport.
Mr Rainey added that the family wanted to "keep an eye out" for their replacement flight the next day as they stayed in the terminal.
He said: "My kids were sleeping on a rock hard, cold floor. I stayed up through the night while my family closed their eyes, checking updates on the easyJet app."
After waiting until 1.45pm the following day to leave Croatia for Crete, the family said the beginning of their holiday had been ruined.
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The father-of-three he said he felt 'disgusted' by how easyJet dealt with the situation
| GETTYMr Rainey said he felt "disgusted" by how easyJet dealt with the situation.
The father-of-three said: It didn't bother me how I felt but it bothered me how my family were feeling.
"No one can sleep properly in a situation like that.
"It ruined my holiday from the time that happened until two or three days into my holiday. I was so overtired and stressed. I was just unhappy in every means."
An easyJet spokesman said: "We're really sorry for Mr Rainey and his family's experience after their flight from Luton to Crete was diverted to Split, due to a crew member requiring urgent medical assistance.
"Our airline sourced a replacement crew member who could operate the following day but unfortunately this meant the flight was delayed overnight.
"We understand this was a disappointing start to the family's holiday, and not the experience we want for our customers.
"We're in touch with Mr Rainey to apologise, offer a refund for the lost night, and provide a gesture of goodwill."
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