Gatwick Airport: Air India passengers stranded on plane

[Basil]

BBC News - Gatwick Airport: Air India passengers stranded on plane (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-15327839)
Passengers have been stranded on a plane at Gatwick Airport for more than eight hours after fog caused their flight to be diverted.
The Air India flight was on its way from Mumbai to Heathrow Airport when the weather conditions forced it to divert to Gatwick at about 08:00 BST.
A spokesman for the Sussex airport said the airline was waiting for a crew before it could complete its journey.
I guess there's a reason why the pax were not disembarked and cleared customs and immigration at LGW and then, if they wished, bussed to LHR?

[nigel osborne]

Crikey surely common sense would be to put the passengers through LGW and bus them !:=

No sympathy for AI though..they used to divert to BHX who treatted passengers a bit better.

How many divs from LHR did LGW pick up today ?

[captplaystation]

Can't on the face of it see why getting off @ LGW to enter "Fortress UK " would be any different to LHR.
Surely not a simple case of AI not wanting to pick up the tab for the bus ? or paying one-off pax handling fee @ LGW ?. . . . then again :hmm:

[Daysleeper]

Going to be some lawsuits after this one...


edit to add.. perhaps time for an EU ramp delay rule!

[Jamie-Southend]

Now back at Heathrow i gather.

BBC News - Gatwick Airport: Air India passengers stranded on plane (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-15327839)

[topper3]

Incredible.
What was stopping them from being disembarked and just bussed over to Heathrow? Could they not just have gone through imigration at LGW??

:ugh:

[clareview]

Its a lot more complicated than just arranging a bus (several busses). AI has no handling agent at LGW and I suspect there are issues about passenger records being sent from India to Heathrow. Getting it sorted would probably take longer then the delay in getting a crew - seems like the original crew were close to the limit on hours

[kotakota]

topper3 , you obviously have no idea about Indian bureaucracy / decision making / buck passing etc ? I have had the dubious pleasure of working for a decidedly 2nd rate Middle East airline for 3 years ( only 2 more days thank God ) which is virtually run by them , and the locals have adopted their methods ..........mayhem. Hence , no surprise what happened in Gatwick today .
We should ask why AI were the only divertees having grief today - were they not Cat 3 Rated , or just flying on fumes thanks to poor planning / pressure from management ?
I can picture the aggro from the pax .........almost comical to contemplate.
Really made my ( 2nd last ) day !!

[merlinxx]

Shakes head in a very concerned manner muttering "O dear me, O dear me, O dear me" :ugh::{

[Suzeman]

Seems like they are serial offenders with the news that the same happened at BHX.

AI had the same problem at MAN many years ago and kept their pax on the aircraft for 8+ hours after a diversion from LHR . They couldn't make their minds up what to do, offload or fuel and go and took several hours to decide. They then demanded instant handling. Sorry chaps, you're in Britain now and you have to wait in a queue for handling in a sequence which is dependent on when you requested it. There were several aircraft in front of them.

Seem to remember that this was before the era of mobile phones etc but it did hit the press next day.

We should ask why AI were the only divertees having grief today - were they not Cat 3 Rated , or just flying on fumes thanks to poor planning / pressure from management ?

Not so; US Air and AA both had flights diverted to MAN which were fuel and go

[Flightmech]

Kotakota,

Before you speculate that the crew were flying on fumes due to poor planning or getthereitus, maybe the aircraft concerned had an MEL item that prevented it from being CAT3 capable:=Just a thought.

[racedo]

Question is

Would numerous passengers requesting medical treatment for potential "heart attacks" or other "alledged" medical conditions force all the passengers to be taken off ?

[ZOOKER]

I wonder what would have happened had there been Olympic athletes or officials onboard?

[750XL]

You can't just organise the handling and transportation of passengers at the flick of a switch. As said earlier, if the airline don't have a handling contract with anyone then ringing around and finding someone able to handle the aircraft will take a while. If they do manage to find someone willing to do it, they'll be put to the back of the queue until they have spare bodies available, which in this day and age, isn't very often. Likewise, trying to organise enough coaches for 300+ people is hell, and if you add poor management from AI to it all it's a recipe for disaster.

[WHBM]

How can a carrier have an alternate on ther flight plan without having a potential handling agent lined up there ?

[Skipness One Echo]

You don't need coaches for 300 as quite a few said they were happy to make their own way from London Gatwick, not all would need to go to Hounslow. I seem to recall many airlines who have a contact at the alternate just in case of a div, the wheels click into motion.

[Bobbsy]

Anyone else spot a very clear clue in the BBC story as to why THIS particular incident hit the international news?

A BBC World Service reporter on board said the mood on the plane became heated.

Now, far be it from me to suggest that a journalist might use his contacts to publicise a story, but....

Yeah, it was badly handled by AI but I'm not sure the story merited the amount of coverage it's had worldwide on the BBC tonight/this morning!

[silverhawk]

Do what the Ryanair passengers did in Seville a couple of months back, when being held against their will in unacceptable circumstances; open the doors,blow the slides and leave.

[ilesmark]

I wouldn't be surprised if there's a false imprisonment claim in there too, as well as whatever ppl succeed in claiming for the delay and inconvenience. Love to see Indian bureaucracy defend itself in a UK court!!

Re the clareview comment about passenger records being sent from India to Heathrow - there will no doubt be questions asked about why the UK citizens on board couldn't simply flash their passports at LGW and then get the train into London - at least one said to the BBC that they were happy to do this!

[Basil]

open the doors,blow the slides and leave
I think, after due consideration, I'd counsel against that.
Could be leaving oneself open to a charge of causing malicious damage; however, if steps are there, insisting upon walking off would seem reasonable.

[lowflyer]

Is it possible that AI were waiting until there was an idea of how long the delay would be? It would be annoying to have the SLF wandering around LGW, and no doubt getting lost, if the aircraft were able to fly on to LHR after only a short delay. The longer the delay actually was, the more human nature would expect it not to be much longer.

Couple that to not having a handling agent at LGW (though someone must have arranged for the fuel, you'd have thought) and I can see how this happened. It doesn't excuse it by any means, but perhaps it's understandable?

I'm certainly no expert, but it seems plausible.

[Capetonian]

I suspect there are issues about passenger records being sent from India to Heathrow.

Such as? Neither Gatwick or Heathrow have scanners, photocopiers, email? I hadn't thought of that. Even in the unlikely event that papers had to be physically moved from one to the other, a courier on a motorcycle could do that in 40 minutes.

Issues? What is an issue?

[Airbus_a321]

surprised ? - not really !
welcome to the British Airports bureaucracy. standstill since early 19th century.

[EGBE0523]

Every Jobsworth at Gatwick must have thought it was his/hers birthday, christmas and lottery win all rolled into one when this AI diverted in.

[ilesmark]

Can anyone imagine how the passengers would have behaved if it had been a flight full of Israelis rather than Indians?!

[ManofMan]

ilesmark....

No I cant Imagine, why dont you tell us all...

[Evanelpus]

Is it possible that AI were waiting until there was an idea of how long the delay would be? It would be annoying to have the SLF wandering around LGW, and no doubt getting lost, if the aircraft were able to fly on to LHR after only a short delay.

Once they deplaned, surely that would have been it. You've got to feel sorry for the pax though. Sadly, AI has previous, so no great surprises.

[ilesmark]

Or a flight full of Americans for that matter......!

[Groundloop]

Every Jobsworth at Gatwick must have thought it was his/hers birthday, christmas and lottery win all rolled into one when this AI diverted in.

Why?

It was AI's own decision to keep them on the aircraft. Nothing to do with Gatwick employees.

[lowflyer]

Once they deplaned, surely that would have been it. You've got to feel sorry for the pax though. Sadly, AI has previous, so no great surprises.
Well, I was wondering if AI were hoping that (as eventually happened) they'd be flying the pax to LHR rather than just abandoning them in LGW or trying to arrange buses.

You're quite right - everyone hates delays but to actually be more or less where you want to be and not to be allowed to disembark must have been incredibly frustrating. Like the bus driver who won't let you off until he reaches the stop even though there are three buses already queuing at it, only multiplied by a very large number!

[Capot]

Let's be clear; there was NOTHING, nothing, that did not allow AI to say to passengers

"We do not know the length of the delay, and if you wish to disembark here at Gatwick you may of course do so, and go through immigration at Gatwick. We will have no further responsibility for your onward journey, and your baggage will be available for collection at Heathrow following the arrival of the aircraft there because we are not obliged to deliver it although a decent airline would. Please contact XXXXXXXXX who handle our flights at Heathrow. We are deeply sorry for this abysmal cockup after an unavoidable weather diversion. Please form an orderly queue for the door."

The difference between good and godawful airlines is how they react when things go wrong.

[doubledolphins]

So it flew on to LHR after 10 hrs on the ground? I think that's what I heard on the BBC. So was it with the original crew? Did they take their rest on the aircraft before flying on? How is that legal in any authority's FCLs?

[lowflyer]

One cause of the delay, according to the BBC, was waiting for a new crew so, no, it wasn't the same crew.

[dfdasein]

Well goodness gracious me! My mind is boggling, my heart sinking, Uncle.

[xtypeman]

Bring back GH in the good old days diverts where great to handle. We had contracts with AI AF SQ to name a few. We where not allowed though to handle the joint SQ/BA Concorde that diverted in from SIA/BAH shame. But load control where checked out on AF w/b for the Concorde. Those where great days that us on the ramp looked forward too. Managed to work both an AI 707 and a Pan-am 727 operating an IGS service in one shift in amongst Laker, Dan-air BIA etc etc......... We could rustle up coaches get pax off and moving asap. We even did it for when our flights diverted away. Got told off for getting two NW 747 loads off to STN by coach before the crews had even been told.

[korrol]

Some posters here have suggested that any passengers might be tempted to open the doors and deploy the emergency slides to leave the aircraft might be liable to legal action by the airline for malicious damage.

Does that mean that passengers who open doors, emergency exits and deploy slides in an emergency also stand to be sued by the airline?

...and just what constitutes an emergency?

[Groundloop]

Does that mean that passengers who open doors, emergency exits and deploy slides in an emergency also stand to be sued by the airline?

...and just what constitutes an emergency?

Such an emergency described above is when the call comes over the PA from the flightdeck "Evacuate! Evacuate!"

[fireflybob]

As the said aircraft was on English, ahem I mean European ground, one might have thought the provisions of the Human Rights Act might apply to detaining passengers for this long against their will.

Any legal eagles prepared to comment?

[RedhillPhil]

........and rail passengers detrain and start walking - causing more delays - after forty minutes.

[ManofMan]

The funny thing is that when the same thing happened to a Qatar A330 at Manchester last year following snow in London it didnt even make the news, guess that was because 1) It wasnt in London 2)There was not a member of the BBC on board.

All given fuel by over hyped crap from the press and people now wanting compo.

[Will Hung]

not all would need to go to Hounslow.


That's not very PC is it !

[Basil]

OK, Southall as well then ;)

[VIKING9]

did AI have the necessary permission to fly LGW-LHR (domestic leg) because I'm sure if a UK carrier had done similar in India, the DGAC would have insisted on it !

[LTNman]

Happened to me once on a BA flight from Toronto to Heathrow. We ended up at Manchester due fog and there we sat for endless hours until the crew ran out of hours. We were then bussed to Manchester Piccadilly and sent home via train.