Rhodes TUI flight to Norwich Airport diverted to Birmingham

Dozens of people hoping for a quick trip home from Norwich Airport instead ended up three hours away in Birmingham, with one passenger describing the situation as a "complete farce". 

The flight from Rhodes, which was scheduled to depart at 10.15pm on June 28, was delayed due to an air conditioning problem with the Sunwing plane. 

It eventually took off at 11.04pm but it wasn’t until the plane was preparing to land that passengers found out they would be arriving in Birmingham. 

TUI said the delay on the Greek island meant the aircraft was unable to land at Norwich Airport as it closes at midnight.  

READ MORE: Norwich flight CHAOS leaves holidaymakers stranded for 12 hours

Upon landing in Birmingham at 1.26am on June 29, passengers were told that there would be coaches waiting to take everyone back to Norwich - but there were not enough. 

The rest of the holidaymakers were put in taxis by TUI for the trip back to Norwich. 

Passengers waiting for taxis at Birmingham Airport (Image: Supplied)

Elizabeth, 63, who was travelling back to Blofield with her husband, said: "There was confusion as to where to go when we got off the plane as there was no TUI rep telling us. 

“Then there was no one supervising the people getting on to the coach - they were throwing their own bags on. 

READ MORE: Stranded passengers slam Tui after 12-hour delay in getting home

"It was a complete farce and when we did finally get a taxi, the weather was horrendous. 

"People were getting upset - it was chaotic." 

The couple eventually arrived back in Blofield at 6am.

Elizabeth and her husband were on the flight (Image: Supplied)

Sue Wymer had been on holiday with her husband for two weeks and didn’t get home to Wroxham until 8.15am. 

She said: "They did say go and get some refreshments if you want and keep the receipt, but that's a bit of a farce isn't it?  

"It was just horrendous. We met a young girl back in Norwich and she was so scared, she had had a horrible drive home." 

A spokeswoman for TUI said: "We’d like to apologise to customers who were diverted to Birmingham due to the late arrival of the inbound aircraft. 

"Our teams were on hand at Birmingham airport to support customers and we organised transport back to Norwich for all customers. 

"Due to a lack of coaches and taxis, this took longer than anticipated and we completely understand how frustrating this was for customers. 

"We’d like to thank customers for their patience and understanding and will be proactively contacting them today to offer a holiday voucher as a gesture of goodwill." 

It comes just weeks after 200 Tui passengers, travelling on a flight to Norwich Airport operated by Alba Star, were stranded in Palma for 12 hours due to a technical issue.