SANFORD, Fla. -- Nearly 300 British tourists were still stranded at Orlando-Sanford International Airport on Friday. XL Airlines went bankrupt Thursday and grounded all of its flights without warning.

---

CHECK: Flight Times

---

The Civil Aviation Authority, which is the UK's version of the FAA, told Eyewitness News late Friday morning that they've worked out a deal with three airlines to get the stranded passengers out, but they don't know how long that will take.

Tracy Harding and her family spent the last two weeks in Orlando to experience Disney World. Friday, they were stuck at Sanford International Airport and don't know when they're going home.

"We don't know if we're stuck here for today and today and tomorrow, three days. We don't know who's paying for the flights home," Harding said.

The 266 British passengers stuck at Sanford International already spent upwards of $2,000 on their XL Airlines flight to Orlando, not to mention the thousands of dollars they poured into the Orlando-area economy.

"We need someone with a bit of authority to tell us what's going on and we haven't had that," Harding said.

Passengers told Eyewitness News they knew something strange was going on when employees rushed them to board their flights Thursday night. Their plane was on the tarmac about to take off when it suddenly stopped.

"Next minute you got policeman come flying up, blocked the plane. Then we all got chucked off, pilots got marched off," explained stranded passenger Patricia Roughwn.

There was chaos in the terminal because no one knew the airline had filed for bankruptcy, even the airport. The airport shuttled some people to a nearby hotel, where they received a discount, but majority of the passengers stayed because after two weeks of vacation they have no money left and they want to go home.

"Airplanes leave from airports, not from the hotel. So we had to stay, that's what we decided to do. Stay at the airport," said stranded passenger Peter Garner.

The bankruptcy affects 285,000 passengers with 50,000 right now that can not get back to Britain. According to the BBC, this is the biggest collapse of a travel company in two decades.