Much easier for airline ops to 'throw a six and start again'
Like it.....and agree.
For the benefit of the OP: You might end up with a minor defect in flight that, whilst not demanding an immediate landing,
must be fixed before the next take-off. The fix might be a lengthy job and may well demand specialist engineering know how and/or hard to locate spares...In such an event one normally contacts HQ (sat phone) and asks for their input. HQ probably don't want the aircraft, passengers and crew dumped somewhere en-route at an "off line" station, they also might not be keen on the flight proceeding to a destination if that destination isn't the best place to fix the problem.....so the advice may well be "come back to base"...