British Airways flight 2036 was bound for Gatwick Airport from Orlando on Thursday when an incident occurred.
Mechanical issues meant the plane could not fly and was to remain at Orlando airport for 24 hours with passengers put in hotels near the airport.
Passengers boarded the plane the next day only to find themselves stranded again after being diverting to John F Kennedy Airport in New York.
Many travellers found themselves sleeping on the airport floor due to the issue as only a few were given rooms, according to NBC New York.
Passengers were furious at the treatment by the airline and the lack of communication.
Twitter user John Chapman posted a picture of his young daughter, saying: “Seven year old cancer survivor, sleeping on the floor at terminal 7 JFK. Thanks for nothing.”
Someone else wrote: “People are laying on the floor, and no staff are here to provide any information whatsoever.”
Many pictures showed people sleeping next to their suitcases, with a passenger saying children were forced to sleep for “five and a half hours” on the floor of the terminal.
British Airways sent a new plane for the passengers on Saturday to return to London two days later.
British Airways explained that, due to the New York City marathon taking place at the time, hotel rooms were limited.
The airline told Express.co.uk: “Our aircraft diverted to New York on Saturday morning as a precaution, following a minor technical issue.
“We are sorry to our customers for the delay to their travel plans.
“We sent a relief aircraft out to New York on Saturday morning to get customers back to London Gatwick as quickly as possible.
“Our teams on the ground cared for customers, booked hotel rooms, blocked off our first class lounge and offered meal vouchers.
“The safety of our customers and crew is always our priority.”
British Airways has suffered from a number of incidents in recent weeks, resulting in irate passengers.
A man was shocked to find his Business Class seat was soaked in urine when boarding, which damaged his designer trousers.
Flight attendants moved him to a different seat and BA gave him 40,000 air miles in compensation, which he slated as not enough after it “ruined his holiday”.
The airline also experienced a major hack which resulted in passenger’s credit card details involved with 380,000 people affected.
Thousands were forced to cancel their cards in case they were targeted in the online attack.
