For the people on this particular flight, what should’ve been a routine journey quickly turned into a travel disaster they won’t soon forget.
Air travel is already stressful as it is. One minor hiccup can spiral into a major problem, whether it’s your bag getting lost, a delay messing up your plans, or some unpredictable mishap out of your control.
Among them was 66-year-old Terry Lawrance, who explained how things quickly took a turn. After the flight was unexpectedly grounded, passengers had to sleep on makeshift beds and inflatable mattresses when it became clear they wouldn’t be taking off again any time soon.
So what actually caused the diversion? During the July 8 flight, the pilot made a clear announcement warning everyone that two passengers had been caught smoking in the bathrooms. He said that if it continued, the plane would be forced to divert.
Unfortunately for everyone else who was following the rules, things didn’t get better. About three hours after the warning, the captain came back over the intercom and said they were going to divert the plane to Bangor International Airport in Maine, US.
The aircraft landed around 9:30 p.m., and the passengers who had allegedly been smoking were escorted off the flight.
Terry shared that the passengers remained seated for five more hours. The flight even taxied toward the runway at one point, only for the whole trip to be canceled. The crew had reached their legal limit of working hours, meaning they couldn’t operate the rest of the flight to Gatwick.
To get things back on track, the airline scrambled to arrange a backup flight. A new crew was quickly sent from the UK to the US to take over and fly the passengers back home.
Eventually, the flight back to Gatwick took off at 3:00 p.m. local time (8:00 p.m. BST) on Wednesday, July 9. After a long and stressful ordeal, everyone finally made it back home safely.
It all ended well, but for those passengers, it was definitely a journey filled with frustration, discomfort, and a whole lot of waiting around.