The lengthy flight from Grand Cayman to the UK became even longer for passengers on Tuesday’s British Airways flight. After a passenger was taken ill onboard, the evening flight was diverted first to Canada and then to Iceland before heading to the UK, turning a 12-hour journey into a 23-hour odyssey.
The BA0252 flight from Owen Roberts International Airport departed five minutes ahead of schedule at 6pm on Tuesday afternoon and arrived in Nassau, Bahamas, as planned. It then departed at 22:09pm local time for the transatlantic leg to Heathrow, but was forced to divert mid-flight to Gander in Newfoundland, Canada, after a medical issue affected one of the passengers.
The plane landed in Gander just after 5am (2:30am Cayman time) and remained on the ground for 90 minutes, before taking off. However, due to regulations covering aircraft crew working hours, the flight was forced to land at the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik at 1pm local time (8am Cayman time) so that the existing crew could be replaced.
After a 5-hour, 15-minute wait at Reykjavik airport, a new crew joined the British Airways flight. The plane finally touched down at London Heathrow airport at 10.46pm local time, more than 11 hours after its scheduled arrival time of 11:40am.
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Nothing can be done when a passenger is taken ill mid-flight.
But why the over 5 hours delay in Iceland?
From the moment they took off in Canada they would have known they needed a crew change; why didn’t British Airways immediately dispatch crew to meet the plane in Iceland? It’s only a 3 hour flight from London to Iceland and the crew should have been ready to go.