BA lands at WRONG airport - Edinburgh instead of Dusseldorf

[Auxtank]

You couldn't make it up. Hope there were no fuel anxieties.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47691478

A British Airways flight destined for Dusseldorf in Germany has landed in Edinburgh by mistake, after the flight paperwork was submitted incorrectly.

[diffident]

You would have thought that someone might have twigged when the captain welcomed everyone on-board his service to "Edinburgh"!!!!

[jensdad]

The exact point it makes in the article, to be fair ;)

[ProPax]

You couldn't make it up. Hope their were no fuel anxieties.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47691478

A British Airways flight destined for Dusseldorf in Germany has landed in Edinburgh by mistake, after the flight paperwork was submitted incorrectly.Märzfest? :}I remember the good times when news like this were destined for the humor pages. In this day and age, BBC talks about it like someone rotated the Earth in the wrong direction. Come on! People lost 2-3 hours but now have a story to laugh about. "A German pilot flew us in the wrong direction, HAHAHAHA!" Relax!

[Icanseeclearly]

The pilots must have been expecting to go to EDI, they must have briefed EDI in the crew room, checked the flight plan and the route in the nav system. Wonder what their roster said..

All very embarrassing.

As an aside it wasn’t BA it was CityFlyer and it wasn’t even them rather WDL operating on their behalf.

[diffident]

The exact point it makes in the article, to be fair ;)

I meant an announcement prior to departure, not on landing!!! I can't think of any flight that I have been on where the flight deck don't make some form of announcement prior to departure! Or the cabin staff for that matter.

[meleagertoo]

You couldn't make it up.


This may be more complex that it appears. My initial reaction was nonsense, not 'landed at wrong airport' at all, rather gate staff/bus drivers put pax on the wrong plane. But how could the cabin crew not notice an entire load of boarding passes saying Dusseldorf, or an entire load of pax not norice "Welcome aboard this flight to Edinburgh"? The notice above the boarding gate must have shown the destination and flight number as DUS.

Is it possible the flight deck thought they were going to EDI and the cabin thought the destination was DUS? If so that's an incredible breakdown in briefing and crew co-operation.

Diffident, never not heard a welcome speech? I take it you never fly Ryanair then?

Gonna be some red faces over this one!

[Daverb]

Pilots too disconnected from the cabin now?

Some of the replies on social media are pretty funny.

The crew must have been expecting to go to Edinburgh. Entered it in the flight computer and air traffic expecting Edinburgh too. But as said surely they made an announcement at the start of the flight and on route?

[Reverserbucket]

Incredible - surely they knew the way though as the aircraft appears to be CGN based which is just down the road from DUS. Seriously though, looks like the same airframe completed an LCY/EDI rotation yesterday (intentionally), but very interested to learn how this could have happened - what paperwork were they given? Callsign used this morning appears to have been the usual one for the 3271 LCY/DUS so would've though ATC might have picked up on this regardless of the FPL? I always thought BA were highly selective with ACMI contracts and I'm sure CFE are as well?

[ajamieson]

Is it possible the flight deck thought they were going to EDI and the cabin thought the destination was DUS? If so that's an incredible breakdown in briefing and crew co-operation.
Seems the likeliest explanation.

The view of the Forth Bridge on finals must have woken some up in the cabin!

[Jetstream67]

I remember a landing where to the announcement "We have now landed to Brussels" totally silenced a cabin full of business folk who were (they thought) travelling to Cologne. Everyone looked at each other with the same expression of horror - then a quickly uttered correction was added over the PA. .

[Grimkell]

Yesterday the aircraft flew from Dusseldorf to London city and then to Edinburgh before heading back the same route, the crew presumably thought they were doing the same again.

[jensdad]

I meant an announcement prior to departure, not on landing!!! I can't think of any flight that I have been on where the flight deck don't make some form of announcement prior to departure! Or the cabin staff for that matter.

Apologies, I got the wrong end of the stick there. Personally I'm amazed that none of the passengers twigged when the plane was flying over Northern England rather than Holland, and that the sun was in the wrong place. Depends on weather, though.

[cooperplace]

but it's OK, they were never lost!

[Sucram]

I've had the wrong destination on the flight plan/fuel plan before, not like this though, they used the alt as destination and vice versa

[Ancient-Mariner]

Could be worse once Virgin Galactic get going...
Meanwhile, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2nlyMIi610 Even if not Luton!

[dc9-32]

SID for EDDL would be via CLN or DVR while a SID to EGPH would be via BPK.

Did the cockpit crew not question with ATC why they were given a northern departure? Clearly not....

[601]

Imagine the chaos at BNE in the old days when on Sunday morning there would be a flock of Friendships on the apron.
Paxs would front up at the chainwire gate, show their boarding pass and the lovely young lady would say "that aircraft over there"
All good except all F28s look the same.
The result was that the passenger I had to pick up from the last leg of a journey from Houston to Quilpe ended up in Rockhampton.

[rmac2]

Imagine the commotion and comments about poor levels of professionalism if a similar problem had happened to say .... Lionair or Ethiopian Airlines

[ProPax]

Personally I'm amazed that none of the passengers twigged when the plane was flying over Northern England rather than Holland, and that the sun was in the wrong place. Depends on weather, though.
I'm not. Remember Varig 254? They entered heading 270 instead of 27.0, and BOTH pilots were looking directly into the setting sun and didn't realize their mistake.

Besides, any frequent flier knows that planes move in mysterious ways following established coridors. And people more educated in geography know that a plane flying, for example, from Dubai to an apparent West to Houston, would actually fly North.

Also consider the modern mindset about security. Anything you do out of the ordinary may lead to an "investigation" that may cost you some VERY serious problems. If people are beaten by security guards for refusing to change seats, imagine what can happen if you suddenly start banging on a cockpit door (or talk to a flight attendand) demanding the plane to change course. That can only end well.

[Hotel Tango]

SID for EDDL would be via CLN or DVR while a SID to EGPH would be via BPK.

Did the cockpit crew not question with ATC why they were given a northern departure? Clearly not....

Since the company (WDL) flies to various destinations from LCY on behalf of CityFlyer (including EDI) it would appear that as far as they were concerned their paperwork and Flight Plan stipulated EDI as their destination. They therefore had no reason to question the SID received as it corresponded to the destination THEY were given by the company.

[ProPax]

Pilots too disconnected from the cabin now?
As opposed to, say, Amelia Earhart? :cool:

[dc9-32]

Since the company (WDL) flies to various destinations from LCY on behalf of CityFlyer (including EDI) it would appear that as far as they were concerned their paperwork and Flight Plan stipulated EDI as their destination. They therefore had no reason to question the SID received as it corresponded to the destination THEY were given by the company.

I disagree. The crew were expecting (and rostered) to fly to DUS so anything relating to EDI should have raised alarm bells in the pre-flight stage.

[golfbananajam]

Märzfest? :}I remember the good times when news like this were destined for the humor pages. In this day and age, BBC talks about it like someone rotated the Earth in the wrong direction. Come on! People lost 2-3 hours but now have a story to laugh about. "A German pilot flew us in the wrong direction, HAHAHAHA!" Relax!


Imagine you're a few hours late for your business appointment or you miss a connection or a family funeral or a family wedding or any other reason to be where you expect to be, all of a sudden not so funny eh!

Also didn't read anything about the pilot being German

[diffident]

Sky News have cottoned onto this now, delightfully showing stock footage of BA 747-400's!!

[Hotel Tango]

I disagree. The crew were expecting (and rostered) to fly to DUS so anything relating to EDI should have raised alarm bells in the pre-flight stage.

You don't know that for sure. My wife, a former F/A, was well acquainted with last minute operational changes. We are not party to what conversations took place between the Captain and dispatch. He was obviously convinced he was now going to EDI and that was that. I certainly disagree with you that he would happily have flown a different SID to the one in the FPL he was presented with.

[staircase]

Had this sort of thing myself just after computer rostering and flight plans first became the norm in the eighties.

Checked into the crew room expecting to go to AGP from my roster, and was given the paper work by ops for AGP.

As the passengers were loading we called ground for the clearance, and was given one to Alicante. No says I, AGP, wrong says the man on clearance delivery, your flight plan is Alicante.

Solved it easy enough by going into the cabin and asking a bunch of passengers where they wanted to go, and it was Alicante, so that is where we ended up!!

[dc9-32]

I didn't suggest the crew would happily have flown a different SID to the one on the FPL. But if the crew were expecting to fly to DUS and were present with a FPL that said EDI, they must surely have questioned it with someone before engine start. Why on earth would a crew just assume their paperwork is right when their roster said something else? In almost 40 years in this business, I don't know of any crew who have not at least questioned a change to confirm everyone agrees and accepts so as to continue.

[racedo]

Guess that will end the BA folk sniggering at Ryanair because a "eirjet" chartered in landed at Ballykelly instead of City of Derry all those years ago.

[WHBM]

The same thing happened with an MD-80 in Spain some years ago, and the circumstances look similar. Mainstream carrier (it was Spanair then) has wet-leased in an aircraft, including the dispatch of it, from a foreign carrier (that was from a Scandinavian charter company), so the crew did little/no PA and local cabin crew did it all. That flight, from Madrid, went south to Valencia instead of north to Santiago. The crew had just done a Valencia round trip, and their paperwork just had them down for a second one. Meanwhile all the passenger-facing side has them announced as going in the opposite direction. Everything of course was flightplanned and organised correctly by the crew for where they were told to fly to, it was only when they contacted handling on arrival they found they were not expected.

Strangely, on that occasion it was IMC throughout and the pax never noticed. Today it's been pretty much CAVOK for the last two days. Did none of the pax query the routing when in flight ?

[ATC Watcher]

These things unfortunately happens rarely but regularly ( wrong bus at outside position , change of aircraft last minute , swapped crew briefing papers, change in planning message stuck somewhere , etc..) but almost all the time it is discovered either at boarding ( F/A checking boarding passes,) or at first PA announcement before of while taxiing ( our flight time to xxx is ..) a very rare couple of times right after departure , again after a Crew PA announcement, therefore it is very rarely ending at the wrong destination.
I would bet, you will find in this case a lot of holes in the cheese , and the fact is as well that today these kind of things end immediately on twitter and are picked up by media...

[Midland 331]

I recall it happening a few times to Midland in the days of coaching to the November stands at Heathrow. It was usually caught by the cabin crew or when the No1/Capt. gave a welcome message.

[WHBM]

BA of course don't check boarding passes at the door any more. And the last time I was on a BA wet-lease (Danish carrier Jettime, LHR-ABZ) both flight deck and cabin crew made little/no PA at all apart from a BA safety briefing script they had been given.

[Hotel Tango]

But if the crew were expecting to fly to DUS and were present with a FPL that said EDI, they must surely have questioned it with someone before engine start.

The point is that we don't know what was or what wasn't said. Obviously the crew were somehow or other convinced and not particularly surprised to be going to EDI, only the passengers! As ATC Watcher says, a lot of holes in the cheese must have lined up.

Not too dissimilar to this I remember a day I was on duty when we questioned an aircraft's unexpected turn over a way point and questioned their intentions. They replied that they were following their flight plan route. We asked confirmation of their destination and discovered it was different to the one in the FPL we had received. In this case it turned out that the crew got one set of paperwork (the correct set) but that their ops had sent an incorrect FPL to ATC. Of course the SID and initial routing was the same until they got to that way point in our airspace and only then was the discrepancy noticed. So, these things happen.

[Dualbleed]

Maybe even their roster showed EDI at publication, so no questions asked. Obviously a c..ck up but no safety implications whatsoever. Should be moved to the humour section.

[EEngr]

As opposed to, say, Amelia Earhart? :cool:

I was thinking Wrong Way Corrigan.

[rog747]

Incredible ! beggars belief that not one passenger noticed that they were flying North and never went over the water (Channel) durrrrr
ACMI lease from WDL aviation Gmbh of DE. (146??) - nice views lol

Still nice load of EU compo 361 - This is def not extraordinary circumstances - its a stuff up.

Worst we ever did at BMA LHR was MME bags put on the LPL and LPL bags on the MME
2 x DC-9's parked next to each other

I think we did it at JER as well - wrong bags and pax on wrong a/c but don't think pax ever ended up in wrong place

[skua]

The days of the "world's favourite airline" seem very distant......

[ZOOKER]

It will all be sorted out later this year when the Aerodrome Controllers at EGLC are operating from the new NATS Digital Bunker down at Swan Wick. :}

[JanetFlight]

Hard Brexit ...!!??? :O

[nivsy]

Curious. If this is a regular daily rotation with that flight number is it not most likely that ATC at city would wonder why a flight with that number that usually goes to DUS has a flight plan and hence clearance to EDI? Or do such things not marry up in aviation? Is it a new service? How long has WDL been operating for BA from city and is it only on certain routes?

[BristolScout]

It will be interesting to see how the BA PR department spins this one.

[ErinsDad]

Back when US Air was driving Saabs between Dulles and ALB, I'd always ask the pilot where we were going when jumping/crouching/shoulder-rolling into the POS plane. More than once, the pilot and gate agent were not in agreement. And then we'd get a new crew, which created a long delay because of Mr. Saarinen's "People Movers".

[WHBM]

How long has WDL been operating for BA from city and is it only on certain routes?
WDL are a substitute operator for BA Cityflyer at London City, with a BAe 146/RJ. They get called in as required to operate different rotations each day when the heavily used main BA Cityflyer fleet is an aircraft down on requirements.

[fox niner]

And then there was the Northwest dc10 that landed in Brussels instead of Frankfurt. Both have runways 25 L/R.

[kenish]

I recall a case study in goof-proofing procedures and processes. Southwest placarded the aircraft tail number at passenger and cargo doors and several servicing points. It's another "checkpoint" that saves about $250k annually by preventing boarding or loading baggage onto the wrong aircraft, miscatering, miscrewing, etc.

[mmeteesside]

WDL are a substitute operator for BA Cityflyer at London City, with a BAe 146/RJ. They get called in as required to operate different rotations each day when the heavily used main BA Cityflyer fleet is an aircraft down on requirements.

Looks like the last few days they’ve done all DUS rotations, yesterday they covered a late shift DUS-LCY-EDI-LCY-DUS. You can see where the confusion could have come from in ops. Noticed it (appears to have) flew with the CFE1JB callsign though which is the 3271 to DUS normally, did nobody at LCY pick this up?
i flew with WDL recently on a last minute sub-in for Hop from Strasbourg to Toulouse and they were spot on in terms of thorough announcements... did nobody in the cabin spot a mention of Edinburgh?!

[DaveReidUK]

Anyone one in the industry going through T5 at peak times will see how it could happen!

It wasn't a flight from Heathrow.

[DaveReidUK]

Incredible ! beggars belief that not one passenger noticed that they were flying North and never went over the water (Channel)

According to the Daily Mail, there were only 5 passengers on the flight.

If that's true, they were probably all avoiding sitting in the 146's window seats. :O

[Alpine Flyer]

In their case a roster might not be that much of a help as they probably get shifted around quite a bit depending on where CityJet needs them. As for the cabin crew checking boarding passes, welcome to the 21st century. Even if the occasional passenger shows his/her boarding pass, they ask about the seat row so that's what the cabin crew will be looking for. It would be more of a coincidence if they'd notice a wrong destination.

[MartinAOA]

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/314x314/bean_b453cd2a0b3af0b53142110a4e406ae2d9308178.jpg
Guess, Mr.Bean was flyin' ;)

[ExDubai]

Hm.... I‘m flying tomorrow morning from DUS to LCY. I‘m a little bit confused what to pack...

[clareprop]

Hm.... I‘m flying tomorrow morning from DUS to LCY. I‘m a little bit confused what to pack...

Just to be safe, worth popping a kilt in...

[suninmyeyes]

I think the title “Lands at wrong airport” is a bit misleading. The flight plan was to Edinburgh, the pilots intended to fly to Edinburgh and they did fly to and land at Edinburgh. So comparisons to Ryanair landing at the wrong airport by mistake are not appropriate and saying they should have queried a Northern SID is not a valid comment because all departures to EDI have a Northern SID so that is what the flight crew would have expected. Also no fuel anxieties because they would have had the fuel for their planned flight to EDI. There has clearly been a big cock up as to why the flight plan was to the wrong airport and my thoughts echo a lot of the other comments above.

[Procrastinus]

Both pilots should be suspended immediately
Didn’t they even LOOK at the compass?
It sounds funny, but it just shows how the art of aviation has been lost for the ’art’ of electronic cockpit management.

[WhatTheDeuce]

Both pilots should be suspended immediately
Didn’t they even LOOK at the compass?
It sounds funny, but it just shows how the art of aviation has been lost for the ’art’ of electronic cockpit management.

Might be worth reading one or two of the previous posts on the thread before hitting submit reply.

[james ozzie]

There is disbelief and amusement in this thread but there was potential for it to get very unpleasant. What if a few alert passengers started to think on the lines of MH370, 9/11 or Germanwings, with a rogue flight crew? (Coincidentally Germanwings was en route to Dusseldorf) A few text messages or calls to loved ones and the next thing you have a full on terror alert.

[RodH]

Back in 1967 I had a similar occurrence when flying as a F/O on the B727.
We were scheduled Sydney-Brisbane and at the same time another B727 was scheduled Sydney-Adelaide.
In their wisdom operations swapped aircraft due to future maintenance and informed everyone EXCEPT us.
We only found out the pax and F/A’s were all going to Adelaide when a passenger asked the F/A why the Pacific Ocean was out there on the right side of the aircraft and not the inland of Australia.
A quick anxious visit to the flight deck by said F/A soon told us that we were the only ones who did not know the correct pax destination.
A hasty radio call to Operations soon clarified matters and we turned for Adelaide and the other B727 turned for Brisbane.
It was tea and bikkies in the Airport Managers office for the Flight Ops people and Some very red faces.
Bit of a laugh though!

[FlightlessParrot]

Passenger query. Suppose someone in the cabin had realised they were going to the wrong destination, what could have been done about it? As far as I can see, the pilots were instructed to fly to Edinburgh, which they did in a normal, safe, fashion. Would it be possible to change to an unplanned destination in flight? Would it be possible to calculate fuel adequacy in the time available? Would there even be time to make sure all the passengers wanted to go to Dusseldorf? Seems likely the safest plan would be to carry on to Edinburgh and write it off to a paperwork problem in the back office.

[Capn Bloggs]

There is disbelief and amusement in this thread but there was potential for it to get very unpleasant. What if a few alert passengers started to think on the lines of MH370, 9/11 or Germanwings, with a rogue flight crew? (Coincidentally Germanwings was en route to Dusseldorf) A few text messages or calls to loved ones and the next thing you have a full on terror alert.
Yes, they wouldn't think of asking any of the cabin crew or pilots what was going on/where they were going before going into panic/terror mode...

[FlightlessParrot]

RodH, must have been a standing hazard. About the same time I was a passenger on a 727, and we were welcomed to our flight to Brisbane. Audible puzzlement, and a quick correction. That time the pilots knew we were really going to Adelaide.

[Impress to inflate]

Hang on, hang on.......when I board a flight, I have to show my boarding card to the cabin crew at the main door to prove I'm entitled to be ON THAT FLIGHT, on that day to the planned flights destination. Why didn't the cabin crew pick up on the fact that EVERY pax boarding card said Dusseldorf and not Edinburgh?? Who's runs the brief here ? I would imagine that the cabin crew and flight crew would have a pre-pax boarding brief detailing, destination, special needs pax (wheel chairs, etc) pax numbers etc etc etc

[log0008]

No idea of source but a post onfacebook claims that the whole crew inc flight attendants was changed at the last minute, when operations was confirming the details of the swap they just looked at the same flight the prior day which was EDI advised the crew as such and copied the flight plan.

[MFC_Fly]

Hang on, hang on.......when I board a flight, I have to show my boarding card to the cabin crew at the main door to prove I'm entitled to be ON THAT FLIGHT, on that day to the planned flights destination. Why didn't the cabin crew pick up on the fact that EVERY pax boarding card said Dusseldorf and not Edinburgh?? Who's runs the brief here ? I would imagine that the cabin crew and flight crew would have a pre-pax boarding brief detailing, destination, special needs pax (wheel chairs, etc) pax numbers etc etc etc

Hang on, hang on........why not read the posts above?

The cabin crew thought the flight was going to Dusseldorf, the passengers thought the flight was going to Dusseldorf, but fr some reason the pilots thought the flight was going to Edinburgh.

My gut feeling is that the flight deck was called in at short notice to replace the scheduled crew for some reason. They arrived too late to meet the cabin crew, who were already on their way to the gate to start boarding the pax. For some reason the pilots were under the impression they were to fly to Edinburgh (given or picked up the wrong flight details), hence why they planned for, filed a FP to, and subsequently flew to Edinburgh. Flight deck arrive at aircraft too busy pre-flighting to chat to cabin crew. Cabin crew give initial pax announcements ("Welcome aboard this flight to Dusseldorf") whilst the pilots were getting their clearance ("Cleared to Edinburgh via the blah blah blah departure...."). Flight progresses normally (as far as the flight deck are concerned). Approaching Edinburgh the Capt/FO gives the arrival announcement. This is the first that the cabin crew and pax know of the flight going to Edinburgh.

[WingNut60]

Hang on, hang on.......when I board a flight, I have to show my boarding card to the cabin crew at the main door to prove I'm entitled to be ON THAT FLIGHT, on that day to the planned flights destination. Why didn't the cabin crew pick up on the fact that EVERY pax boarding card said Dusseldorf and not Edinburgh?? Who's runs the brief here ? I would imagine that the cabin crew and flight crew would have a pre-pax boarding brief detailing, destination, special needs pax (wheel chairs, etc) pax numbers etc etc etc

The check on boarding is perfunctory at best and cabin crew are mainly looking at seat allocation, especially for wide-bodies and appropriate aisle.
Putting any faith in manual checking of all boarding pass details at the cabin door is a bit much to ask.
But if all of the passengers have a boarding pass to wrong destination you would think that might get noticed.

I have twice boarded (been allowed to board) the wrong aircraft; both times after a gate change.
Luckily picked up when the lady in my seat wouldn't let me sit in her lap.

[Hotel Tango]

In regard to cabin crew checking boarding cards, I cannot speak for British companies. However, this side of the channel it is my experience that cabin crew never check boarding cards. As far as they are concerned that has been done electronically at the gate and any anomaly flagged at that point. Only when I fly long haul on twin aisled aircraft do cabin crew check boarding cards at the door, and this is only to check your seat number and guide you to the correct aisle.

[MaydayMaydayMayday]

Hang on, hang on........why not read the posts above?

The cabin crew thought the flight was going to Dusseldorf, the passengers thought the flight was going to Dusseldorf, but fr some reason the pilots thought the flight was going to Edinburgh.

My gut feeling is that the flight deck was called in at short notice to replace the scheduled crew for some reason. They arrived too late to meet the cabin crew, who were already on their way to the gate to start boarding the pax. For some reason the pilots were under the impression they were to fly to Edinburgh (given or picked up the wrong flight details), hence why they planned for, filed a FP to, and subsequently flew to Edinburgh. Flight deck arrive at aircraft too busy pre-flighting to chat to cabin crew. Cabin crew give initial pax announcements ("Welcome aboard this flight to Dusseldorf") whilst the pilots were getting their clearance ("Cleared to Edinburgh via the blah blah blah departure...."). Flight progresses normally (as far as the flight deck are concerned). Approaching Edinburgh the Capt/FO gives the arrival announcement. This is the first that the cabin crew and pax know of the flight going to Edinburgh.

This seems to have the right kind of logic to it. Having come from a different aircraft or called off standby, certainly plenty of occasions would involve arriving at the aircraft after both cabin crew and passengers. As much as a full joint briefing is probably written down somewhere as desirable, I can imagine being asked " what's the flight time?" by the crew, and little else whilst settling in, probably in their efforts to let you get on with flicking switches. DUS vs EDI flight times aren't going to be drastically different, so if the cabin crew hear "an hour" it's going to be in the ballpark either way, lulling them into a false sense of security that you're all planning on going to the same destination. Not to mention the distraction of ground handling, fuel, loading the box, walkaround, what you want in your tea, etc.

[jafa]

Yerz. Sitting in Casablanca going I thought to CDG. F/A in the cockpit, we happened to notice boarding passes in her hand "Orly". ??Ask her, are we going to CDG or Orly? "No idea. YOU should know!!". On the phone to ops., are we going to CDG or Orly? "Not knowing tell you later." Before start, same question, same answer. After start, ditto. Taxiing, "Tell you airborne." Finally up over the Med and about to run out of two-way with ops, ask again, "Ummm - Orly!". So there you go.

[SOPS]

Sky News have cottoned onto this now, delightfully showing stock footage of BA 747-400's!!

The ABC ( Australia’s BBC) is on to it and showing vision of a BA A380!

[megan]

Boarded the DC-10 at Honolulu and the welcome aboard announcement said destination Auckland. Immediately all hands shot up crying we're going to Sydney. You're on the wrong aircraft we're told, you should be on that aircraft parked to our left. Much confusion among CC and was some time before things were sorted, we were on the correct aircraft, but was left wondering about the crew.

[31Pilot]

In regard to cabin crew checking boarding cards, I cannot speak for British companies. However, this side of the channel it is my experience that cabin crew never check boarding cards. As far as they are concerned that has been done electronically at the gate and any anomaly flagged at that point. Only when I fly long haul on twin aisled aircraft do cabin crew check boarding cards at the door, and this is only to check your seat number and guide you to the correct aisle.


Same here. Not once have cabin crew checked my boarding card (on my phone) while boarding. At the gate it’s scanned and then I walk to the aircraft and enter via the door mentioned on the card or as guided on the way by sign. The crew then say hello as I’ve boarded but no check done. The only time I’ve had it checked is on long haul twin aisle, and then it’s uaualky just to guide me to the seat number and which aisle to use.

So the gate staff will have been checking/scanning for DUS, but the crew planning for EDI ��*♀️

[lamax]

In the 70s two Herons departed Melbourne, one for Wagga Wagga and one for Merimbula. Somehow pax were mixed up on the tarmac prior to boarding, some alert pax noticed the wrong scenery and alerted crews. Both a/c diverted to Mangalore and 30 odd passengers were reassembled into their correct groups for onwards carriage.

[Lake1952]

My question is this: what happened to the passengers who actually went to LCY seeking the flight to EDI?

[BedakSrewet]

Following refueling at EDI the flight took off again and eventually arrived in DUS, where a German Immigration officer 'fingered' through the pages of the passport of one of the pax, an elderly British gentleman and asked : 'Have you ever flown to Dusseldorf before ?' , Upon which the elderly gentleman responded : 'Yes, but we did'nt land.......

[layman]

SOPS

Not in the ABC article I'm looking at … might be an ATR but makes no mention of aircraft type in the article
ABC article (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-26/british-airways-plane-edinburgh-scotland-dusseldorf-germany/10938796)

cheers
layman

[LTNman]

I wonder what the arrivals board at DUS was showing just after the aircraft had landed at EDI? Was the handling agent at DUS thinking the flight had been cancelled, was still inbound or had landed?

[Pearly White]

Imagine the chaos at BNE in the old days when on Sunday morning there would be a flock of Friendships on the apron.
Paxs would front up at the chainwire gate, show their boarding pass and the lovely young lady would say "that aircraft over there"
All good except all F28s look the same. F27s, they look similar to Friendships, too!

[Ken Borough]

Doesn't the loadsheet show points of origin and destination?

[pattern_is_full]

Some assumptions here that would never have crossed my mind:

- that ATC for a terminal area with, what, 2000+ movements a day, would associate every single flight number with a specific destination (beyond what's filed). I mean, outside of BAW001 or something equally obvious. I'd bow to input from one of our ATC friends, of course.

- that I'd have to show my boarding pass to cabin crew (unless there is a seat mixup). I haven't done that in close to 20 years. Get scanned through at the gate - end of story.

- that any significant number of pax are paying attention to the outside view - they mostly have their heads buried in their devices from 10 seconds after sitting down until after landing, except when prohibited.

LCY of course has no jetways. No need - that I can see - for flight crew to pass through the same doorway and tunnel (and past the same signage) as the pax (or the CC). Again I'll bow to the folks who work there daily as to normal ops, though.

[CYTN]

Was the pilot Rudolph Hess's Grandson :)

[fox niner]

So what happened next? Did they eventually take off again and fly to dusseldorf?

[Espada III]

Yes

Young lady passenger on Radio 4 last night said it was an early flight, no announcement of destination (or everyone was already asleep) and the only time she realised something was wrong was when they saw hills as they came into land.

[KelvinD]

I have had 2 incidents in which confusion reigned for a few minutes.
The first relates to the comments about how the passengers didn't notice the Channel hadn't appeared along the route and was on an RAF Argosy, flying from Aden to Francistown. Having left Nairobi, I happened to look out of a window (not easy as we didn't have seats, only the parallel bars and nets so was back to the window). I couldn't help noticing there was water below us and I could see a coast line some way from us to the East. I had figured out that, as we were flying more or less North to South, the coast should have been to our West. Then I discovered how big Lake Nyasa was!
The second was on a BA777 going from London to Kuwait. Everything was going swimmingly and we taxied toward our departure. The Captain came on the PA and announced "We shall shortly be taking off toward New York.." A lot of heads bobbed up, necks swivelled as people looked at their mates in surprise. "New York? Bugger New York! I am going to Kuwait" etc. The Captain then continued with his announcement telling us how will be turning left shortly after take off, when we get to Ascot. From there we will travel toward Kempton Park, then Epsom and on to Canterbury where we will cross the coast. The drinks trolley was around very soon after take off and I ordered a G & T from the chap with the cart. A voice came from behind my left shoulder, saying "I will serve this gentleman. A G & T was it sir?" I turned and found I was being served by the Captain! It transpired he was very close to retirement and was very keen on horse racing!

[Joe le Taxi]

Of course the potential is greater in an ad hoc charter operation, where a destination might be communicated verbally eg the biz jet crew who flew their client to Palma, when he wanted to go to Parma.

[WHBM]

Hang on, hang on.......when I board a flight, I have to show my boarding card to the cabin crew at the main door to prove I'm entitled to be ON THAT FLIGHT,
Hang on further ... BA Cityflyer gave that procedure up about 18 months ago. I didn't particularly see why, probably because some pax whined they had to show their BC twice in two minutes.

relates to the comments about how the passengers didn't notice the Channel hadn't appeared along the routeIt's only us lot who still have an interest in looking out of the window. Many pax nowadays can't even see as far ahead as the cabin crew demo'ing all the safety kit.

Was the pilot Rudolph Hess's Grandson :)
Best comment in the thread :)

[RevMan2]

Happens in the best of families...
https://youmustbefromaway.com/2008/07/09/dont-ask-me-about-public-transport/

[BEA 71]

Now we have almost five pages of funny comments and of boy scout stories.
Could we now resume to facts, please !

[bArt2]

For some reason the pilots were under the impression they were to fly to Edinburgh (given or picked up the wrong flight details), hence why they planned for, filed a FP to, and subsequently flew to Edinburgh.

The days when the flight crew plan, and file a flight plan are long gone. These days with minimum rest and maximum flight duty there these things are done for you. You receive flight plans, Notams, Weather and so on.

I can not imagine they received a flight plan for Dusseldorf if they ended up in Edingburgh.

[mike current]

Some assumptions here that would never have crossed my mind:

- that ATC for a terminal area with, what, 2000+ movements a day, would associate every single flight number with a specific destination (beyond what's filed). I mean, outside of BAW001 or something equally obvious. I'd bow to input from one of our ATC friends, of course.



Also, around this time of the year (although it's usually after the clocks change) all the flight numbers change. And even if the controller thought for a second, hang on that flight number is odd... you see a different carrier operating it, the flight plan looks normal, everything looks fine and don't think much else of it.

I was also thinking it might have seemed strange to have 2 Edinburgh flights departing at short interval, but then again, it's Monday morning, ATC have no idea of what plans the airlines have with regards to positioning, etc. All sorts of unusual movements happen all the time!

[yanrair]

Did the pilots fly to the wrong airport, or did the passengers do so?
I remember on Big Airways on the way to HKG we found passengers for Buenos Aires. They had heard announcements two hour into flight about HKG weather and did not speak much English. Landed HKG and they are wined and dined and sent off to B Aires. Because they were on hols they enjoyed the HKG free experience. You cannot get much further from HKG than Buenos Aires - 12000 miles I think.

Thinking about the EDI flight. Was it not the same thing? The crew and plane and flight plan and everything else was going to EDI, Just not the passengers? Yes, how were the boarding passes etc not spotted etc etc etc. That will come out no doubt. And there are security implications too.
And, what happened to the real EDI passengers - did they end up in DUS? Haven't hear what happened to them. Presumably there was an EDI departure around the same time a DUS departure which is where the mix up occurred?, No idea and like someone else, I am looking forward to the explanation with interest! I really do hope it is honest.

As for boy scout stories mentioned above, a lot of what you read here is just that, boy scout stuff at this stage of an event. Nobody knows so lots of speculation, and anecdotes like mine above. Nothing wrong with that. Nobody died. And it was not unsafe. Just a complete screw-up. Not what you want to hear about airline operations though because the passengers lose faith in the airline business which is sad since you cannot be anywhere a safer than in a civil airliner operated by a good airline. And in 2017 - any airline. No fatalities in 2017. So ending up in the wrong airport doesn't really demand too much publicity except for the fun of it.
Cheers
Y

[Reverserbucket]

So the gate staff will have been checking/scanning for DUS, but the crew planning for EDI ��*♀️
Interesting point. Consequences of a domestic or CTA arrival at an international destination might have been interesting if they had disembarked as not all would likely have had passports.

I was a passenger recently on a flight that returned to LHR following loss of a hydraulic system. Right turn East reaching Dover rather than continuing ahead to the Belgian coast after about 20 minutes. Capt gave a PA explaining there was a technical issue which he would prefer to return to base with (contaminated destination runway) and C/C prepared cabin for arrival having just wheeled out the carts to commence food service. It became apparent that a number of my fellow passengers didn't realise we turned back until we touched down at LHR judging by the comments I could hear once they'd removed their personal headphones.

[Impress to inflate]

OK, what did it say on the boarding screen at the Gate ? The crew would have walked passed the screen with the destination if the a/c was at the gate (but not if it was at a remote spot).

Do BA still have the "in-flight map" displayed in the cabin ? For many years they did with route, altitude, ground speed and eta at the destination.

[matthew_w100]

How long before somebody official explains what actually *did* happen? It can't take more than a few moments for them to work it out.

[DaveReidUK]

And, what happened to the real EDI passengers - did they end up in DUS? Haven't hear what happened to them. Presumably there was an EDI departure around the same time a DUS departure which is where the mix up occurred?, No idea and like someone else, I am looking forward to the explanation with interest!


It's pretty clear from the thread so far that the passengers boarded a flight that was being displayed as the BA3271 07:30 LCY-DUS, with appropriate boarding passes, and were expecting to land there (until they didn't).

I haven't seen any suggestion that there was confusion with the scheduled LCY-EDI flight, which had departed 30 minutes previously and arrived at Edinburgh on time, presumably full of passengers who actually wanted to go to Scotland.

[malanda]

Were they bussed to a remote stand? I've often wondered if there are any checks to ensure the driver goes to the right aircraft.

[airspeed75]

People worrying about fuel and northerly SIDs etc are all going down the wrong path here.

This crew will have had the mindset of going to EDI from the moment they entered that crew room, there is no way they planned, fuelled, set up the FMS and then briefed a flight to DUS only to then take off and fly to EDI being on a northerly SID etc. I cannot comprehend this happening.

It was likely to be a miscommunication between BACF and WDL, in that they weren't properly informed of the routes they should have been flying on the day in question.

Some airlines do not check boarding passes for a domestic flight, a possible hole in the cheese lining up.

Nor do they do a passenger announcement in a country who's language they do not comfortably speak.

[Midland 331]

Were they bussed to a remote stand? I've often wondered if there are any checks to ensure the driver goes to the right aircraft.

:-)

In the days of November stands at LHR I seem to recall having to shout up the steps to the cabin crew "Teesside?" in the manner of day trip punters at Skegness bus station on a bank holiday (I imagine..).

[Super VC-10]

Nobody died. And it was not unsafe. Just a complete screw-up. Not what you want to hear about airline operations though because the passengers lose faith in the airline business which is sad since you cannot be anywhere a safer than in a civil airliner operated by a good airline. And in 2017 - any airline. No fatalities in 2017. So ending up in the wrong airport doesn't really demand too much publicity except for the fun of it.
Cheers
Y

Westwind Aviation Flight 280 crashed on 13 December, a passenger was killed.

[Doug E Style]

People worrying about fuel and northerly SIDs etc are all going down the wrong path here.

This crew will have had the mindset of going to EDI from the moment they entered that crew room, there is no way they planned, fuelled, set up the FMS and then briefed a flight to DUS only to then take off and fly to EDI being on a northerly SID etc. I cannot comprehend this happening.

It was likely to be a miscommunication between BACF and WDL, in that they weren't properly informed of the routes they should have been flying on the day in question.

Some airlines do not check boarding passes for a domestic flight, a possible hole in the cheese lining up.

Nor do they do a passenger announcement in a country who's language they do not comfortably speak.

Spot on, airspeed75. Now everyone can just calm down.

[Dave Gittins]

My sad habit of taking my iPad and SkyDemon with me (or Foreflight if it's US bound) would have pretty quickly had me asking the CC WIHIH ?

Seems pretty obvious that the CC thought they were going to DUS and the flight deck to EDI [which they went to frequently so no surprise to them].

An NO they don't check the boarding passes other than at the gate and in this case I doubt it would have mattered as they matched what the CC thought was going to happen.

And NO they don't have IFE or seat back moving maps on BA short haul.

[yanrair]

Westwind Aviation Flight 280 crashed on 13 December, a passenger was killed.
my apologies quite correct. One passenger died in 2017. I missed that one because I did a sort on airliners >100 pax and it didn’t show the ATR 72 On that flight. When you look At fatalities worldwide they usually include light aircraft, gliders and military , and when you do that , the numbers soar. But since most passengers don’t fly on these I exclude them and speak of “civil airliners “.

[CargoOne]

Not nice but can happen easily. Just a miscommunication between WDL and BA or possibly inside WDL. BA departure control system in airport was registering correct boarding passes to DUS. But it is not connected to WDL ops sustem who (for one reason or another) sent a crew briefing package for EDI...

[DaveReidUK]

my apologies quite correct. One passenger died in 2017. I missed that one because I did a sort on airliners >100 pax and it didn’t show the ATR 72 on that flight.ATR 42, in fact.

[bar none]

Way back when SAS operated DC9 freighters they sent the Copenhagen Manchester night freighter to Helsinki and the Helsinki aircraft to Manchester. Two wrong destinations in one go.

[SquintyMagoo]

So the pilots knew they weren't landing at DUS?

[wiggy]

So the pilots knew they weren't landing at DUS?

As mention in previous posts yes, it seems that way - the Flight Crew went to their planned destination...EDI.

[PerPurumTonantes]

Now we have almost five pages of funny comments and of boy scout stories.
Could we now resume to facts, please !
You're not from round here, are you? :cool:

[Super VC-10]

You should see what happened when a well-known Irish airline tried to troll BA over this on Twitter. Some of the responses were crackers.