This is just for information really:
We were on MON1548 from Gatwick to Skiathos departing 8/5/09 at 12:25, the flight was on time.
Over the Alps, the pilot turned back as the plane had developed a technical fault and was unable to land at Skiathos because of the nature of the airport at Skiathos (short runway).
When we landed, we were told that the windscreen has shattered.
It had, we could see the crazing as we left the aircraft.
The stewardess 'welcomed' us to Gatwick Airport (OK, it may be part of the standard spiel but not received very warmly under the circumstances

) and said that they had no information about what was to happen next.
By the time we were on stand, a represenative from Monarch came on board and said that there was no alternative plane to take us straight away on to Skiathos and windscreen repairs take many hours (to bond?) and as flights don't go into Skiathos at night, they would be putting us up at the Gatwick Hilton (connected to South Terminal) and flying us out at 06:20 on 9/5/09.
The low point was that it took
2 HOURS to offload our luggage - maybe this was due to the electronic handling systems as the luggage was labelled JSI (skiathos code) rather than LGW.
Of course there was a massive queue to check in at the Hilton but full marks to the staff who had 4 people on special check-in just taking passport numbers and handing out keys.
NIL points to the oick who, having been checked in, started asking Hilton staff about whether drinks were included with the meal that the Hilton were providing at Monarch's expense as he 'was going to complain to Monarch and demand compensation.

He should have asked THAT question of the Monarch staff who were around whilst we were waiting for our luggage.
This 'considerate' person took 3 out of the 4 staff away from the check-in process, until I pointed out that he was holding up a massive queue and was being a tad selfish.
The rooms were OK and as the meal was between 19:30 & 21:30 we opted to go back into the airport to the Wetherspoons landside before eating (good choice as it turned out, the drinks at the Hilton were apparently VERY expensive).
When we got back to the Hilton at around 9pm, a lot of the food had gone but we were satisified with what choice we had.
They opened check-in at 04:30 to do a quick re-issue of boarding cards and also provide a letter from Monarch, explaining the reason for the delay (technical) and the revised departure time/date - presumably suficient information for insurance claims.
We departed on time - finally - 18 hours late.
Although it was a bit of a 'bummer' to lose almost a day of our holiday, we did feel that Monarch dealt with the situation pretty effectively, and ther Hilton moved pretty quickly too.