BA flight lands in Edinburgh instead of Düsseldorf by mistake

[webfact]

BA flight lands in Edinburgh instead of Düsseldorf by mistake

 

A British Airways flight destined for Düsseldorf in Germany has landed in Edinburgh by mistake, after the flight paperwork was submitted incorrectly. The passengers only realised the error when the plane landed and the "welcome to Edinburgh" announcement was made.

 

The plane, which started at London's City Airport, was then redirected and landed in Düsseldorf. WDL Aviation ran the BA flight through a leasing deal.

BA said it was working with WDL to find out why it filed the wrong flight plan.

 

"We have apologised to customers for this interruption to their journey and will be contacting them all individually," BA said in a statement. On its final flight on Sunday, the plane flew to Edinburgh and back so it seems that someone at WDL mistakenly repeated the same flight plan for the next day, according to BA.

 

Full story: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47691478

 

-- BBC 2019-03-26

[YetAnother]

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[car720]

but what about the Chinese military plane that landed at the wrong airport in Perth. 

[Tug]

Oops

[Liverpudlian]

FLYINGHELL !! delete that one ????

[mfd101]

Clearly related to Brexit. Düsseldorf is about to be declared off-limits for Brits.

[bendejo]

The first hint was the in-flight meal was whiskey and oatmeal.

 

 

[samran]

As one wit put it yesterday: EasyJet would have just called the airport West Düsseldorf and told the passengers to get off. 

[webfact]

BA jet flies to wrong city, lands in Scotland instead of Germany

 

FILE PHOTO: British Airways logos are seen on tail fins at Heathrow Airport in west London, Britain, February 23, 2018. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo

 

LONDON (Reuters) - British Airways has been forced to apologise after a flight from London to Dusseldorf landed more than 600 miles (965 km) away in Edinburgh by mistake.

 

The detour happened after a sub-contracted crew used an incorrect flight plan and set off from London City airport for the Scottish capital instead of setting course for the Rhine.

 

British Airways said the aircraft - a 96-seat BAe-146 regional jet - was operated by German charter firm WDL Aviation on behalf of BA CityFlyer. The crew and aircraft were sub-contracted from WDL under an arrangement known as a "wet lease".

 

"We are working with WDL Aviation, who operated this flight on behalf of British Airways, to establish why the incorrect flight plan was filed," BA said in a statement.

 

"We have apologised to customers for this interruption to their journey and will be contacting them all individually."

 

WDL Aviation said it had flown the passengers on to Dusseldorf after their unscheduled Scottish stopover.

 

"We are working closely with the authorities to investigate how the obviously unfortunate mix-up of flight schedules could occur," it said in a statement.

 

WDL is owned by Berlin-based logistics firm Zeitfracht Group.

 

(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Sandra Maler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-03-26

[kotsak]

Wouldn't mind a free tour in Edinburgh ????

[mfd101]

So the whole flight was on automatic, was it? Noone from the checkin counter to the boarding counter to the pilot's seat had their brain switched on?

 

I hadn't realized artificial semi-intelligence was so advanced!

[KhunBENQ]

28 minutes ago, mfd101 said:

Noone from the checkin counter to the boarding counter to the pilot's seat had their brain switched on?

They surely checked the boarding cards of the passengers, but they forgot to check the one of the captain

 

Obviously no conversation between flight crew and cabin staff before liftoff.

 

But seriously, how this can happen with today's flight logistics/control is a secret to me. Isn't every flight planned and registered with air-traffic control? And they didn't notice the wrong path?

Fortunately not El-Al heading for Teheran.

[Pilotman]

Good (bad) old BA does it again.  Despite all they say and try to do, they regularly manage to screw up their customer base.  How they continue to thrive  and why people continue to use them totally escapes me.  I avoid them like the plague. I even pay a little more to fly Eva Air from BKK to LHR and back. Never let me down yet. 

[Pilotman]

6 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

They surely checked the boarding cards of the passengers, but they forgot to check the one of the captain

 

Obviously no conversation between flight crew and cabin staff before liftoff.

 

But seriously, how this can happen with today's flight logistics/control is a secret to me. Isn't every flight planned and registered with air-traffic control? And they didn't notice the wrong path?

Fortunately not El-Al heading for Teheran.

I heard a comment by Norman Tebbitt that goes some way to explain it:

 

"Military pilot training is designed to weed out those that can't do it, or who are below standard, to pick the best at piloting;  civilian pilot training is designed to push everyone through the system and get them qualified"

 

Perhaps the flight crew are just dim wits, or perhaps just incompetent.  

 

 

[Burma Bill]

Quote from "Pilotman""-

"Good (bad) old BA does it again"

To be fair, the plane and its crew (WDL Aviation) were all German on contract to BA. The flight plan would have been issued in Dusseldorf I believe. Nevertheless, it is egg in the face for BA.

 

[ballpoint]

Did they check to see if MH370 is parked on the tarmac there?

[toenail]

It is getting more frightening when we totally depend on these automatic computerized programs and not double- check things manually with our brains.

[vogie]

If it's outside the UK, it's probably not worth going to anyway.

[Basil B]

I suppose it was going to happen, with any of the short haul carriers with crews doing multiple return trips every working day.

 

Once The Flight crew punch the data into the Flight Management Computer (FMC) they really only have to start the engines, taxi to the runway and take off, they can leave the rest to the FMC and the autopilot...

 

One may say they were on autopilot.

 

By the way what happened to the passengers flying to Edinburgh???

[Basil B]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

British Airways said the aircraft - a 96-seat BAe-146 regional jet - was operated by German charter firm WDL Aviation on behalf of BA CityFlyer. The crew and aircraft were sub-contracted from WDL under an arrangement known as a "wet lease".

Glad to know it was wet leased, Dry lease is when the cabin crew have pass the captains hat around the cabin so they can buy some fuel...

[seahorse]

6 minutes ago, Basil B said:

By the way what happened to the passengers flying to Edinburgh???

Don't you bother to read threads before posting? 

2 hours ago, webfact said:

WDL Aviation said it had flown the passengers on to Dusseldorf after their unscheduled Scottish stopover.

 

[mejomini]

Pilots were afraid of flying over water in a 737 Max?

[bra]

The flight plan submitted to the Pilots and ATC by the airline company operations section would have been to Edinburgh. The aircraft flight management system and the ATC system would have been programmed with this flight plan data. So its not a question that the flight crew and ATC were not aware where the aircraft was going.

 

The flight plan of course should have been to Dusseldorf - why the error occured has yet to be explained. The airline concerned flys services daily from London City Airport to both locations.

 

Its not the first time this has happened anywhere. A few years ago in Australia 2 jets of the same airline departed Sydney for Brisbane and Adelaide respectively but the Brisbane one had the Adelaide passengers and vice versa. It wasnt until one of the passengers on the flight going to Brisbane asked a FA why he could see the Pacific Ocean on the right instead of the Australian interior that the error was noticed and both aircraft then turned to their correct destinations.

 

Anyway the Edinburgh passengers would have no doubt that they were in the wrong place when they disembarked at when they tried to talk with the locals. Instead of easily understood German accented English they would have been totally confused by barely understandable Scottish accented English!

 

(PS although I am Australian my ancestors were from Scotland about 150 years ago - and they paid their fare!)

[Basil B]

1 minute ago, seahorse said:

Don't you bother to read threads before posting? 

 

I am referring to the other fight which should have been going to Edinburgh...

 

[dick dasterdly]

7 minutes ago, bra said:

The flight plan submitted to the Pilots and ATC by the airline company operations section would have been to Edinburgh. The aircraft flight management system and the ATC system would have been programmed with this flight plan data. So its not a question that the flight crew and ATC were not aware where the aircraft was going.

 

The flight plan of course should have been to Dusseldorf - why the error occured has yet to be explained. The airline concerned flys services daily from London City Airport to both locations.

 

Its not the first time this has happened anywhere. A few years ago in Australia 2 jets of the same airline departed Sydney for Brisbane and Adelaide respectively but the Brisbane one had the Adelaide passengers and vice versa. It wasnt until one of the passengers on the flight going to Brisbane asked a FA why he could see the Pacific Ocean on the right instead of the Australian interior that the error was noticed and both aircraft then turned to their correct destinations.

 

Anyway the Edinburgh passengers would have no doubt that they were in the wrong place when they disembarked at when they tried to talk with the locals. Instead of easily understood German accented English they would have been totally confused by barely understandable Scottish accented English!

 

(PS although I am Australian my ancestors were from Scotland about 150 years ago - and they paid their fare!)

None of that is reassuring.....

[Basil B]

4 minutes ago, bra said:

The flight plan submitted to the Pilots and ATC by the airline company operations section would have been to Edinburgh. The aircraft flight management system and the ATC system would have been programmed with this flight plan data. So its not a question that the flight crew and ATC were not aware where the aircraft was going.

 

The flight plan of course should have been to Dusseldorf - why the error occured has yet to be explained. The airline concerned flys services daily from London City Airport to both locations.

 

Its not the first time this has happened anywhere. A few years ago in Australia 2 jets of the same airline departed Sydney for Brisbane and Adelaide respectively but the Brisbane one had the Adelaide passengers and vice versa. It wasnt until one of the passengers on the flight going to Brisbane asked a FA why he could see the Pacific Ocean on the right instead of the Australian interior that the error was noticed and both aircraft then turned to their correct destinations.

 

Anyway the Edinburgh passengers would have no doubt that they were in the wrong place when they disembarked at when they tried to talk with the locals. Instead of easily understood German accented English they would have been totally confused by barely understandable Scottish accented English!

 

(PS although I am Australian my ancestors were from Scotland about 150 years ago - and they paid their fare!)

My mum tell a story that during the war she was on a train that half way though the journey it would be split with half the carriages going to Liverpool and the other half Manchester, need I say any more...

 

And the other day I saw a bus doing a 3 point turn after making a wrong turn.

[animalmagic]

1 hour ago, Pilotman said:

Good (bad) old BA does it again.  Despite all they say and try to do, they regularly manage to screw up their customer base.  How they continue to thrive  and why people continue to use them totally escapes me.  I avoid them like the plague. I even pay a little more to fly Eva Air from BKK to LHR and back. Never let me down yet. 

Me too.  Worst airline experience I have ever had on BA.  Full flight but noted seat uneven on take off and couldn't change.  Stewardess agreed it was broken but could offer no option.  Had to stand for over half of a 12 hour flight and use a broken and unsafe seat for the landing.  They started with an apology, worked their way through 25 & 50 quid to compensate.  After a year they offered enough of their own airmiles for me to redeem a one way flight to UK if I joined their group and paid my own. return.  Absolute shysters!

[Pilotman]

1 minute ago, animalmagic said:

Me too.  Worst airline experience I have ever had on BA.  Full flight but noted seat uneven on take off and couldn't change.  Stewardess agreed it was broken but could offer no option.  Had to stand for over half of a 12 hour flight and use a broken and unsafe seat for the landing.  They started with an apology, worked their way through 25 & 50 quid to compensate.  After a year they offered enough of their own airmiles for me to redeem a one way flight to UK if I joined their group and paid my own. return.  Absolute shysters!

what did for me was returning from Shanghai to London in Business Class and the lights failed in my section of the cabin, followed quickly by the entertainments system.  Then to top it all, over Europe with 2 hours to go,  they ran out of drinking water. That did for me. haven't flown with them since and never would. 

[yogavnture]

2 hours ago, Pilotman said:

Good (bad) old BA does it again.  Despite all they say and try to do, they regularly manage to screw up their customer base.  How they continue to thrive  and why people continue to use them totally escapes me.  I avoid them like the plague. I even pay a little more to fly Eva Air from BKK to LHR and back. Never let me down yet. 

i heard eva good airline. ba is so ridiculous its ridicoulous.    i agree fullly with your statment i have over 150k miles on ba and have been trying to redemm for 20 years!  talk about poor service.  have u seen heathrow airport taxes. ? the queen should be ashamed

[Spidey]

2 hours ago, Pilotman said:

Perhaps the flight crew are just dim wits, or perhaps just incompetent.  

I think that it was more to do with the fact that they were German. Old habits die hard. Apparently they dropped all the stowed luggage over Coventry.