Originally Posted by
Del Prado
Don’t forget you have to get acceptance from the diversion airfield before you commence diversion.
What if your original destination is unavailable and you’ve held for 10 minutes waiting for the diversion airfield to accept you?
This is a good point. During storm Dennis or Kiara (cant remember) I heard a Vueling on the radio. They did 2 windshear go arounds and then requested a divert to MAN (150nm away). ATC didn't tell them their diversion was accepted for approx 20 mins and left them painting lines in the sky for that time in a poor position. Still south of LGW they headed north and then declared a Mayday and landed in LHR. You don't automatically get your nominated alternate as the UK is very capacity limited. On a nice day with decent weather, that shouldn't be a problem. Worst comes to worst, you declare minimum fuel, then a pan, then a mayday as required to get what YOU want. It's ATC are essentially triaging flights.