That's surprising. I saw above you referred to Virgin. Today's VS20 from SFO to LHR appears to been route a couple of hundred miles short of Scotland and the LHR arrivals board shows ETA 12:10..

He's on VS106 from SEA last night. Now in Keflavik they're keeping him on plane to be safe. Just got pic of him sitting in pilots seat with pilots cap on. Not sure if this is legal. He's surely too young to be taking over......

Good to hear that! My mistake in my previous post as, for some reason, I had read SEA and then went looking at SFO.

G-VFIT departed KEF 15 minutes ago, resuming VS106, rescue is in hand

I bet those lovely Virgin hosties* spoiled him rotten.

Thanx to everyone for their advice support and updates.

Virgin "rescue flight Thunderbird 2" (actually VS106) safely delivered grandson to LHR around 8.30pm last night after a long long trip from SEA via KEF. Overall he was about 10 hours delayed.

He was in the good care of Virgin Atlantic all the way. His mum was allowed to take him onto the plane at SEA and we were updated regularly during and after the diversion.
From all accounts he and the cabin crew found each other charming! He was kept on the 787 at KEF after other passengers left, so had the run of the plane! Apparently he managed a few hours sleep in an Upper Class bed, and had a trip to the cockpit.
We received a photo of him sitting in the magic left hand seat wearing pilots cap!

He also seems to have acquired several sets of 'nice' headphones and assorted toiletries, socks and eyepads etc. Overall he really enjoyed the adventure!

I want to say how wonderful all the Virgin staff are who contributed to his care.
Not sure if name checks are allowed but what the heck! Sarah at Customer Care, and James the plane manager (?) he was awesome, from sending the picture, to getting in touch us by phone (grandson was able to chat with his dad for a bit from KEF) and generally keeping us all informed every step of the way.

Nice one Virgin! I must send Mr B a thank you letter.

(And we do it all again in reverse in three weeks ......)

Great story and pleased to hear all worked out in the end. Pity BA no longer provide for UM's :(

Goldox
Obviously had a good crew, and you must have a nice grandson. I do not think there is any problem name checking them on here, but as you say a nice e-mail to Virgin about the crew would be good as well. Glad he had a good trip, although longer than expected.

http://www.pprune.org/members/311402...e710-pilot.jpg

This says it all!

Thank you all for your best wishes and comments, and especially to any Virgin staff who may read this.

I'll be sending formal "thank you" as well.

Glad to hear he had a great time and arrived safely.

Reading this takes me back a long time and as a minor flying from Glasgow to Wick and back. As a kid the cost of the flight was significantly cheaper than taking the train and about 11 hours quicker too :)
It was a regular flight with me on a BEA Viscount or HS748, and of the two I preferred the Viscount. The joy of living at one end of the country and going to school at the other :)

Just reporting that grandson has now returned to USA.
Virgin delivered him safely and without incident to Seattle last night.

Once again thank you all for your advice, kind wishes and anecdotes, and of course to all Virgin staff for their support and professionalism.

We'll probably do it all again at Christmas!

Best wishes to all,

Just to say Virgin customer services have now replied, thanking me for taking the time to send them such lovely positive feedback on behalf of our family.
I am especially pleased that they confirm they have passed on our appreciation and thanks to the actual crew members (and their manager).