Flight from London to US turns back with all passengers aboard 9 hours | US News
A British Airways flight took passengers from London toward Texas only to return to where it departed, making them endure more than nine hours in the air.
The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner flew across the Atlantic Ocean and had just crossed the Canadian border when it started backtracking.
It took off from Heathrow Airport at 9.27am on Monday and touched down there at 6.54am on Tuesday after flying 7,779km in nine hours and 27 minutes.
A flight from London to George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston would normally have only taken 30 to 40 minutes more than that.
The airline apparently made the decision to return to the UK due to its technicians and facilities being located there.
A British Airways spokesperson stated: ‘The flight returned to London Heathrow as a precaution due to a minor technical issue. It landed safely and customers disembarked as normal.
‘We’ve apologised to our customers for the disruption to their journey.’
The airline did not elaborate on the issue.
Several news outlets reported that it was related to the engines. The issue was not believed to be serious enough to warrant the plane landing immediately, according to The Independent.
All passengers were rebooked on other flights to Houston and to make connections in their original itineraries. Customers were also put in hotels and informed of how they could claim additional expenses.
The incident happened less than a month after a British Airways plane that departed from Heathrow Airport for Oslo, Norway, made an emergency landing at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol due to the cockpit filling with smoke mid-flight. The Airbus A320 carrying up to 190 people experienced the issue 90 minutes into the flight. Passengers were told that the emergency landing was owed to ‘safety fears’ and were told to deplane form the rear door that was farthest from the cockpit.