Photo: news.sky.com
How’s that for a surprise trip? Passengers on flight BA3271 from British Airways boarded the plane in London hoping to land in Duesseldorf, Germany, but landed in Edinburgh, Scotland instead. And they had no idea their destination had changed until they landed.
As hilarious as this may sound, this was a mix-up caused by operator WDL Aviation, which handled this flight on behalf of BA. It filed the wrong flight plan, which means both the pilot and air traffic controllers in London were handed the wrong plan. They did nothing wrong, because they were following written instructions.
When passengers were greated with “Welcome to Edinburgh” as the plane was landing, they were shocked because – obviously – they knew they were supposed to be somewhere else, the Daily Mail reports. An investigation is now underway to see who exactly is at fault for the mix up.
The good news is that the plane was refueled and set off on its correct path, so the passengers did arrive in Germany… eventually. The even better news is that they all had fun, starting from the staff at Edinburgh airport to the passengers who didn’t have to catch connecting flights.
“The first announcement the crew made about the destination was as we were coming in to land. Boarding passes weren't checked,” passenger Chris McGrillen says about the mix-up. “Given this flight is operated by a third party (WDL) BA clearly needs to specify best practices (a ‘Welcome to your flight to Edinburgh’) for 3rd parties.”
WDL Aviation says the internal investigation will determine how this came to happen, while insisting the safety of the passengers were never at any risk.
Adds British Airways, “We are working with WDL Aviation, who operated this flight on behalf of British Airways, to establish why the incorrect flight plan was filed. We have apologized to customers for this interruption to their journey and will be contacting them all individually.”
When passengers were greated with “Welcome to Edinburgh” as the plane was landing, they were shocked because – obviously – they knew they were supposed to be somewhere else, the Daily Mail reports. An investigation is now underway to see who exactly is at fault for the mix up.
The good news is that the plane was refueled and set off on its correct path, so the passengers did arrive in Germany… eventually. The even better news is that they all had fun, starting from the staff at Edinburgh airport to the passengers who didn’t have to catch connecting flights.
“The first announcement the crew made about the destination was as we were coming in to land. Boarding passes weren't checked,” passenger Chris McGrillen says about the mix-up. “Given this flight is operated by a third party (WDL) BA clearly needs to specify best practices (a ‘Welcome to your flight to Edinburgh’) for 3rd parties.”
WDL Aviation says the internal investigation will determine how this came to happen, while insisting the safety of the passengers were never at any risk.
Adds British Airways, “We are working with WDL Aviation, who operated this flight on behalf of British Airways, to establish why the incorrect flight plan was filed. We have apologized to customers for this interruption to their journey and will be contacting them all individually.”
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