Hundreds of horrified holidaymakers were left stranded after a mobile hotspot named ‘Jihadi London’ sparked a terror alert.
Travel plans were thrown into chaos after the Thomson Airways flight from Cancun, Mexico, to Gatwick Airport was evacuated on Tuesday night.
After an hour sat on the tarmac, some scared passengers insisted on leaving the plane, which put crew over their working hours limit and forced everyone to disembark.
Families eventually returned to the terminal and were put up overnight – after a five hour wait.
The flight finally took off on Wednesday lunch time, touching down at 4am on Thursday.
A Thomson Airways spokeswoman said: “We would like to apologise to our customers who were delayed, due to a potential security concern raised before take-off, on Tuesday 23rd May on TOM039 from Cancun to London Gatwick.
“A full security check took place as a precautionary measure on the aircraft and we made arrangements to reschedule the flight and return customers home as quickly as possible.”