Diversion to Beirut
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2020
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From: Sussex
Diversion to Beirut
This week a friend and his family boarded a flight home from Rhodes to the UK, which apparently ended up being diverted to Beirut, and them having to spend the night in a hotel in the city,. They flew home to the UK the next day. Beirut is hundreds of miles in the opposite direction than the intended route, with a number of suitable airports en-route (eg Cyprus) where they could have landed if the problem had been urgent or technical. Has anyone any idea why this happened?
Joined: Oct 2007
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From: Location, Location
If the airline has Beirut as a destination, it would make sense to send them to a company destination where handling is set up. Cheaper and more reliable than choosing an airfield with no contracts in place.
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2020
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From: Sussex
Joined: Aug 2021
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From: NL
We don't have the day in question. We don't have the airline. We don't have the destination in the UK. And we don't have the approximate time. Come on now, give us just a little chance to help answer your question!
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2020
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From: Sussex
Very sorry, but it's all I have. I can speculate with the best of you, but thought that a diversion for 100's of miles in the opposite direction ignoring intermediate airports was unusual enough that someone here might know about it. Cannot see that the cost and hassle of finding overnight hotels for a whole flight of passengers, plus the fuel costs for going 100's of miles in the wrong destination, would be worth a diversion for just operational needs. Hijacking, anyone?
Joined: Dec 2004
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From: North Cheshire
It seems surprising in this day and age that such a diversion would not produce acres of newsprint in the red-tops, especially given that the destination was Beirut. It's possible that they were made to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements, but whatever the situation, the diversion seems to be very odd indeed
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2020
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From: Sussex
I was indeed writing with my tongue in my cheek. Just wondered if anyone knew of an unusual reason for the strange diversion: this is a rumour site, after all. But if this upsets anyone, I wont ask again.
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2020
Posts: 84
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From: Sussex
It seems surprising in this day and age that such a diversion would not produce acres of newsprint in the red-tops, especially given that the destination was Beirut. It's possible that they were made to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements, but whatever the situation, the diversion seems to be very odd indeed
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From: NL
I have done a quick check on FR24 for Tue Wed Thu afternoon and evening and found nothing from Rhodes to Beirut. Personally, considering your friend seemingly hardly knows any basic details, it wouldn't surprise me that it wasn't Beirut at all.
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From: North Cheshire
Good title for a novel, though...
Joined: Dec 2004
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From: North Cheshire
Brindisi lies approximately on the route from Rhodes to the UK. Could it have been a case of misremembered/mistaken identity?