By Adam Uren From This is Money Daily Mail UK

Four-day return home from Caribbean after fault that the PILOT says ‘would have led to a watery grave’

Flight MON368 from Tobago took nearly four days to reach Gatwick after suffering mechanical failures

Plane forced into emergency landing in Barbados after pilot reported smoke and fumes seeping into cockpit

Horrified passengers told fault ‘could have landed them in a watery grave’

Deborah Gerrard of Powys has suffered nightmares since the ordeal

A plane full of British holidaymakers endured a return flight from the Caribbean that suffered so many mechanical failures it took four days to get home.

Monarch flight 368 had been due to leave Tobago on Wednesday April 2. But after a journey that included an emergency landing in Barbados after smoke and fumes began to fill the cabin, the traumatised travellers did not reach Gatwick until the early hours of April 6 – almost four days later.

Horrified passengers were at one point told by their pilot that a fault on the plane could have landed them ‘in a watery grave’ and that the same failure had once caused a plane to crash in Thailand, killing all on board.

Derek and Deborah Gerrard of Powys, Wales, had been relaxing in sun-drenched paradise in Tobago before the flight, but Deborah has suffered nightmares since the journey.

They spent the three nights being ferried between airports and hotels as a catalogue of technical failures beset the aircraft.

Their captain at one point announced over the plane’s intercom that had an earlier reverse thruster fault not been fixed, it would have led to a ‘quick trip to a watery grave’, then explained this happened to a plane that crashed in Thailand in 1991 – killing 213 passengers.

Mr Gerrard said: ‘This holiday was to celebrate my 50th birthday combined with our 25th wedding anniversary year.

‘In our 30 years together this was only our fourth holiday overseas, it was supposed to be very special. It was not paid for out of spare cash, it was paid for by years of sacrificing and saving.

‘It certainly will be etched in our memories, but for all the wrong reasons.

The problems began when the passengers arrived at Tobago airport on the afternoon of Wednesday April 6, at which point a problem with the reverse thrusters was diagnosed, requiring an engineer to be flown over from Gatwick.

They were kept another night in Tobago and, upon returning for their rescheduled flight at 7pm the following evening, were told that the problem had been solved by two steel bolts being fitted to the thrusters, which are used to slow the plane on landing.

The captain said they wouldn’t function properly, but that because Gatwick has a long runway then they shouldn’t have a problem slowing down.

It was at this point he added that, had they flown without fixing the problem, it would have led them to a ‘quick, watery grave’, and referred to a Lauda airline crash in 1991 when a reverse thruster went off mid-flight, causing a crash that killed 213 passengers.

As if passengers weren’t nervous enough, about 20 minutes into the flight the captain came on the intercom again and said that smoke and fumes were seeping into the cabin, meaning they would have to carry out an emergency landing in Barbados – not commenting on whether that airport’s runway was long enough for the plane.

They fortunately landed safely, with emergency vehicles lining the landing strip upon their arrival.

Another overnight stay beckoned and with no clear information forthcoming as to when they would leave, the Gerrards were among those passengers to contact their tour operators, Tropical Sky, to complain about the situation.

It did the trick, with Tropical Sky calling them back to say that a ‘rescue plane’ was on its way to Barbados to pick them all up, and would take them home the following day, April 5.

An initial departure time of 11.45am was pushed back to 3.55pm, and when passengers got on the plane they were told there would be another slight delay because the plane was refueling.

Finally, at 5.15pm local time, the plane took off, landing at Gatwick just before 5am on the Sunday morning.

On top of the delays, the Gerrards ended up forking out hundreds of pounds on taxi pick-ups from Gatwick because Monarch failed to provide correct flight information to those in England.

On three consecutive days, the Gerrards said the taxi firm they had hired for the five-and-a-half hour trip home had checked flight information to find the plane was mid-flight, only to arrive at the airport to discover it was still stuck in Barbados.

Although they were put up in hotels and provided with food and drink as per the rules for airlines, Monarch customers have expressed their dissatisfaction with the length of the delay and the comments of their pilot on a Facebook page created to gather complaints about the airline.

They were, however, a bit more complimentary about the rest of the flight staff and that accommodation was found quickly – albeit not particularly close to the airport.

Hellish end to paradise: Holidaymakers were on their way home from Tobago.

Passengers are now planning on applying for compensation for their delay under European Union rules that entitles them to payouts for delays longer than three hours that could have been avoided or minimised.

Monarch has said it is investigating the delays and would be writing to customers with its findings and discuss possible options for compensation.

It also acknowledged that one of its pilots had made ‘inappropriate’ comments during the diversion to Barbados.

A spokesman said: ‘We regret that customers experienced a significant delay on the flight from Tobago to London Gatwick. The aircraft experienced a technical issue before departure from Tobago, which was subsequently rectified by engineers before being cleared for operation.

‘During the delay customers were given hotel accommodation and provided with meals.

‘Shortly after the re-scheduled take-off, a further unconnected technical issue was detected and the aircraft was diverted to Barbados where customers disembarked and were transferred to hotel accommodation.

‘Given the technical issues on this occasion, we made alternative arrangements to return customers to London Gatwick at the earliest time – including the sourcing of another aircraft to complete the journey back to the UK.

‘The Captain took appropriate measures in line with manufacturer and company procedures to ensure the safe landing at Barbados.

‘We are entirely confident that the Captain took the correct action to ensure the safety of all on board.

‘We always encourage our pilots to give regular and open updates to our customers; on this occasion, during one update, he used an inappropriate choice of words to reinforce the need to divert to Barbados and has expressed his regret at doing so.

‘Accommodation, meals and beverages were provided to customers during the delays in Tobago and Barbados, and every effort is being made to refund additional expenses incurred as a result of the delay.  We are writing to customers to let them know the findings of our investigation and to discuss their options for compensation.’

For more on this story go to: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/holidays/article-2604131/Passengers-nightmares-Monarch-technical-faults-flight-Tobago.html#ixzz2yy0Y1iB7