The flyers had been several hours late boarding their flight to Portugal - and said they were then kept waiting on the tarmac for more than three hours without food or water.
Then, after arriving at Stansted Airport, they were refused permission to get off the aircraft because the terminal building was locked.
In total the flight, which normally takes two hours and 20 minutes, was delayed by 11 hours.
The passengers made over 50 calls to Essex Police and were, after an officer boarded the plane, eventually allowed to disembark at 3.45am.
A video diary of what happened was recorded by Portuguese passenger João Pinheiro who put the footage on YouTube:
A spokesman for Essex Police confirmed they had helped get people off the plane after being called by both passengers and the airline:
"Police attended an aircraft at Stansted Airport shortly after 3am on Saturday February 15 to assist in disembarking passenger."
A spokesman for Ryanair said the delays at Stansted were caused by "strong winds" and insisted that, contrary to complaints, they did provide passengers with water.
"This Ryanair flight from London Stansted to Porto was delayed by the weather disruption and a subsequent fuelling delay at the airport."
"After approximately two hours waiting for fuellers, the Captain requested the handling company Swissport to allow the passengers into the terminal which was locked.
"The Captain switched on the aircraft’s air conditioning while waiting for Swissport staff to arrive and the cabin crew provided water to passengers.
"When Swissport failed to arrive the Captain requested the police to let the passengers into the locked terminal.
"The police subsequently arrived and allowed the passengers into the terminal. Passengers were then provided with refreshment vouchers on Ryanair’s instructions."