Hundreds of British Airways passengers who have been stranded in the remote Canadian province of Newfoundland for nearly two days will be flown back to London rather than continuing to their intended destination of Houston, Texas, after their plane diverted due to a medical emergency.
Mart Mottershead, who was one of the passengers on British Airways flight BA195 from London Heathrow to Houston on March 31, has slammed the airline, calling it an “utter disgrace” for its handling of the situation, accusing BA of treating them like “cattle.”
The situation unfolded on Tuesday morning when the new Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner (registration: G-ZBLK) with as many as 265 passengers on board was flying high above the Atlantic Ocean at around 34,000 feet en route to Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
As the plane approached the coast of Canada, however, one of the passengers on board became seriously unwell, and a decision was taken by the pilots to divert the aircraft to the nearest available airport so that the customer could get emergency treatment on the ground.
In this case, St. John’s International Airport, one of the first diversion airports available for transatlantic flights, located on the very east coast of Newfoundland, Canada, was chosen.
The plane landed in St. John’s just before midday local time on March 31, but what should have been a short stopover to get the sick passenger to a local hospital has turned into a frustratingly long layover for everyone else on board.
After landing, it appears that the aircraft needed engineering checks, which pushed the crew beyond their absolute legal limits, given that British Airways chose to cut costs on its new Boeing 787-10s by not installing crew rest facilities that would allow them to extend their duty time.
As a result, everyone had to be transported to local hotels so that the crew could get a minimum amount of rest, with the original plan being to continue on their way to Houston.
On Wednesday night, the passengers were brought back to the airport, where they were then reportedly told that an issue had cropped up with the authorization to fly to the United States, and, therefore, they would be flown back to London.
The return flight to London Heathrow was meant to depart St John’s late on Wednesday night, but the plane did not take off as planned, and passengers are being taken back to hotels while they wait to hear what will happen next.
“We were told they would fly to Houston today, then suddenly London, and now last minute they are being sent BACK to a hotel again — with no clear plan for tomorrow,” wrote passenger Nadir Assis Symonds on X.
“Your staff says the issue is US authorization, but there has been ZERO transparency, no luggage access, and constant changes,” Nadir added.
Meanwhile, Mark Mottershead described what was happening at the airport in a post on the British Airways Complaints Advice Facebook group:
“We are sat in St John’s airport, supposedly heading back to London, but still after 2 days they won’t tell us where we are going to,” Mark wrote.
“Sat with no food and drink with young children. What a s**t show! British airways you should be ashamed treating people like cattle.”
British Airways was contacted for comment.
As of Thursday afternoon, British Airways has dispatched a replacement Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner to St. John’s from London. It remains unclear whether BA plans to get the passengers to Houston or return them to London.
