Spoke to a friend on this flight; she said it was scary. From the time, the Captain told them of the problem the aircraft was on the ground within 30mins.
She also said the aircraft drew alot of attention whilst on the ground. Police, Army, the Mayor all coming onboard, the local press was there. The Russian authorities only allowed 10 passengers off at a time. The airport would only accept US dollars in the terminal, although there was only one small shop.
They had to jump about two feet from the aircraft door onto steps to get off. She could not praise the crew enough, after first and club had been transferred to the first relief aircraft, the cabin crew allowed the remaining passengers to use both club and first cabins to sleep.
Let’s not forget that the support continued back at Heathrow. The ground staff she said were fantastic, alot of passengers had been travelling for 2 days with no change of clothes, they were told their bags would be delivered to them in a few days whilst BA was trying to get them back to the UK. She went to say alot of children on the flight, with no change of clothing and becoming restless.
She also said the ground staff pulled out all the stops on arrival and offered alot of support when they landed, hotels, taxi's, money etc.
BA at its best... Customer Service