British Airways Passengers Stuck on Plane All Day After Double Flight Diversion

The Boeing 777 aircraft departed George Town, Grand Cayman, on time at 6:21 p.m. EST on Tuesday, April 8, with a scheduled stop in Nassau, Bahamas. However, shortly after departing Nassau, the flight was diverted to Gander International Airport in Newfoundland, Canada, due to a medical emergency.

After the five-hour trip to Gander, the plane was grounded again this time because the flight crew was nearing the legal limit of their allowable duty hours. British Airways then arranged for the aircraft to fly to Keflavik International Airport in Reykjavik, Iceland, where a replacement crew could take over.

FlightRadar24 data shows the BA252 finally landed at London’s Heathrow Airport at 10:38 p.m. local time on Wednesday, April 9 almost a full day after its original departure.

The journey from Nassau to London alone took 19 hours, roughly 11 hours longer than expected, due to the two unplanned detours.

While BA252 made headlines for its extended flight time, it wasn’t the only airline incident this week. In a separate case, a passenger reportedly tried to open a cabin door mid-flight over the Indian Ocean, prompting a flight from Bali, Indonesia, to Melbourne, Australia, to make a U-turn.

In the U.S., passengers were evacuated from an American Airlines aircraft in Georgia on Tuesday after smoke and a burning smell were reported in the cabin.

Simon Calder, travel correspondent for The Independent, commented on British Airways’ decision to reroute the flight to Iceland for a crew change, calling it the “least-bad option.” He noted that alternatives, such as resting the crew on the ground in Gander, were likely dismissed for logistical reasons.

Despite these high-profile incidents, experts continue to emphasize that air travel remains the safest form of transportation, with millions of passengers completing uneventful flights daily.

Earlier this month, an American Airlines flight from New York City to Tokyo was forced to make a U-turn due to a maintenance issue. Flight 167, a Boeing 787, departed JFK around 11 a.m. and had already flown seven hours nearing Alaska when it had to divert to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The unplanned detour turned into a 12-hour delay, stranding travelers overnight in Dallas.

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Source: NDTV