My best flight was also my worst flight - turned round by a fantastic cabin crew. I and my telecoms manager were starting a 10-day whistle-stop tour of the US in cattle class on the (now discontinued) BA187 from BHX to JFK via GLA and the date was 13/03/94, which some may recall was when the boys in green decided to drop some mortars (which luckily failed to detonate) onto the runway at LHR.
We were already boarded, but were told what was happening and that our departure would be delayed because lots of flights into LHR with connecting pax for the states were being diverted, some to BHX. Some muttering and grumbling from others, but we had no problem with that and the crew were soon round with the complimentary champers which helped. After an hour or so the flight, initially pretty empty (the service had only recently been launched), began to fill up. We passed the time chatting with the cabin crew.
While this was going on, it was noticeable that the aircraft (a 767) was rocking on its stand and the flags in front of BHX were standing straight out. Yes, there was a 'hurricane' on its way (parts of the UK experienced almost 100mph winds). We took off (a couple of hours late) without incident, but getting into GLA was a different matter - high crosswinds necessitated a go around and there were plenty of white knuckles on display when we were finally planted safely but firmly on the ground. The tension was broken by the announcement: "British Airways would like to welcome you to Glasgow and assure passengers that there will be no extra charge for the go around" - laughter and cheers.
Of course, with all the disruption to UK flights the aircraft was now full to the gunwales. The captain announced that because of the high winds we would be climbing quickly after take off and reinforced the need to keep seat belts fastened until the light went out. He also told us that to avoid the strong jet stream we would be taking a more northerly route than usual - he wasn't wrong as we later passed over Greenland, which I've only previously seen on west coast routings. This added further to our delay and we eventually arrived at JFK 6 hours late at 22:00 having been on board for 16 hours.
The cabin crew must have been on duty for at least 17 hours, but were cheerful and helpful throughout (despite a few grumpy pax). I assume the flight crew must have changed in GLA in order to stay within hours. On our way off we were asked by the crew if we would 'save them time counting the returns' and handed two carriers containing a selection of spirits miniatures!
PS We were hoping to be able to catch the last evening flight for our onward connection to ATL, but this was foiled by a yellow cab who couldn't find his way from JFK to EWR. On the flight back we were lucky to get the same cabin crew and this time on leaving the plane we each got a bottle of champagne from the Club service.