THEY were looking forward to a relaxing holiday in the sun, but instead a Basingstoke couple found themselves stranded at the airport after their flight was cancelled following the collapse of Monarch Airlines on Monday.

Gabbi and Jon Littlefield were two of the 750,0000 customers who lost out on a flight they had paid for, after Britain’s longest surviving airline went into administration at 4am, resulting in the UK’s biggest peacetime repatriation.

The pair, who were due to fly to Dubrovnik, Croatia, on Monday morning, arrived at Gatwick Airport at 4am to find their flight was cancelled.

They had paid £280 for the flight, having booked the holiday two months ago, to celebrate Gabbi’s 30th birthday on Wednesday.

Gabbi, who works in administration, said: “We hadn’t been able to print our boarding passes but thought it was a technical problem. We heard there were potential problems but only with package holidays, and ours was just a flight.

“We arrived at the airport at 4am to staff saying the company had ceased trading and there were no flights. We were stranded and in a panic and didn’t know what to do.”

The couple, from Buckskin, had been dropped off at the airport by Jon’s mother, and had no way of getting back home. They managed to book into a hotel and used a computer at the airport to sort out new flights for 4pm the same day.

But it set them back £700, and they have been advised they will not be able to reclaim.

Gabbi said: “We were told we will get a refund for the cost of the Monarch flight through ATOL but not the cost of what we have forked out for the replacement flight.

“I’m upset because we are financially out of pocket and frustrated, but at the same time there’s not much point in getting angry because it won’t solve the problem.

“We put the hotel and new flight on credit cards, but it’s the cost of what could have been another holiday.”

To make matters worse, the couple’s new flights were not direct, and they had to fly to Split and then Zagreb before flying in Dubrovnik, arriving eight hours later at midnight, at which point they had to find a transfer to their accommodation, because they missed the original connection.

“We should be there now,” said an upset Gabbi speaking from Gatwick Airport on Monday, “We should have landed at 10am so we’re also missing a day of our holiday. It’s not the best way to start a holiday.”

Gabbi and Jon, 35, who works as a controller, said they felt “lucky” not to be one of the 110,000 customers who are stranded abroad.

Gabbi added: “It could be worse. We have mixed emotions and Ifeel really sorry for the staff who are all out of their jobs. They were sitting at their desks at 4am when a public announcement went out.

“We are frustrated not to be on holiday but at least we had credit cards to pay for new flights.”

She added most people at the airport on Monday were “understanding” of the situation.

The airline, which employs 2,100 staff, collapsed as a result of falling revenues and rising costs, according to administrators KPMG.