A 67-year-old tourist has vowed never to fly British Airways again after what was supposed to be a routine flight from London to Athens turned into a 33-hour journey involving four planes, one of which caught fire.

Geoff Lye’s “nightmare” journey began last Tuesday when his 1.15pm flight to Athens was cancelled due to a technical fault with the plane. A replacement jet turned up at 5pm, by which time the crew had gone over their allocated working hours and were unable to fly to Athens; once again the flight was cancelled.

Disgruntled passengers were given vouchers for a free night’s stay in a London hotel and told to return to Heathrow the following day to board a third plane.

However, moments after take-off, at 1.40pm on Wednesday, the starboard engine juddered, made a series of loud bangs and caught fire.

The plane was taken for repairs at Heathrow after landing safely

“I’m an atheist but even I was praying,” Mr Lye told the Evening Standard. “Our hearts were racing. Passengers behind me said they could see flames kicking out from the engine.”

The captain shut down the engine and returned to Heathrow.

“We landed perfectly safely, accompanied by a fire engine,” said Lye. “At this point we were just delighted to be alive.”

A fourth plane took off without drama at 7.40pm on Wednesday and Lye, who was travelling with his partner to visit ancient sites, did not reach Athens until the small hours of Thursday morning, local time.

Lye claimed there had been a lack of communication from British Airways throughout the ordeal.

“It makes me embarrassed to be British,” he said. “We had Americans including a honeymoon couple… they just couldn’t believe it, they were shocked.”

'It makes me embarrassed to be British' Credit: Twitter

British Airways claimed passengers were given letters explaining what had happened, along with details of the new flights.

“We fully appreciate how frustrating this experience has been, and have apologised to our customers for the long delay to their flight,” a spokesperson told Telegraph Travel.

“We provided refreshments and hotel accommodation during this time.”