Have you been on a flight that diverted?

[Mattg]

Have you boarded a flight and then landed at an airport that wasn't the intended destination?

I had a diversion about a decade ago on a domestic flight in Brazil. Took off from CGH bound for CNF, but after circling over Belo Horizonte for some time and being unable to land due to the weather, we ended up returning to Sao Paulo. Ultimately we didn't have enough fuel to make it all the way back to Sao Paulo though, so we diverted to Viracopos.

(From there, unfortunately the airline handled the situation really poorly. After a long wait and no communication, wee ended up getting put on buses - first back to CGH, and then to Belo Horizonte.)

Interestingly, I was crediting this flight to QFF and it credited to my Qantas account as a CGH-VCP flight, which short-changed me a bit. A missing points claim fixed that.

I've also had a Qantas SYD-AKL flight return to SYD after take-off due to a bird strike. That was handled much better - Qantas gave us some meal vouchers, found a new plane and we departed again a couple of hours later.

If you have a diversion tale, this thread is the place to tell it!

 

[AuSammy]

At the conclusion of a conference on a Friday night I was due to fly AN BNE-SYD-ADL.

Took off ok but SYD closed due to weather and we diverted to MEL.

On arrival in MEL we were told we couldn’t make ADL that night due to curfew.

Unfortunately a heap in International flights had diverted to MEL earlier than us because SYD was closed and they had already taken all the city and surrounding hotel rooms.

We were bundled onto a mini bus organised by the airline and ended up in some small country town I don’t recall. The motel owner got a local restaurant to reopen as we hadn’t eaten for many hours and the bill was sent to the airline.

The problem to get us to ADL was the grand prix was on and we were told they would do the best they can to find seats for us but no promises.

In the end all was ok. The mini bus took back to the airport and on arrival I was given a J seat to ADL and some money, cant recall how much, to compensate for any necessities we may have needed to buy due to delay. (Probably all helped by my GW Diamond status)

 

[Princess Pia]

Was travelling to Paris on Ryanair (can’t remember which airport we were meant to be going to) and got diverted to Lille due to fog. Typical Ryanair chaos but buses were eventually provided to get us into Paris.

 

[luxury-lizard]

I guess all frequent travellers have a story to 2 to tell - here are a few for myself:

1. On my very first trip Down Under from Montreal Canada to Sydney in 1972 !! Itinerary was: YUL-ORD-LAX-HNL-AKL-SYD - after leaving ORD the flight diverted to Houston for a medical emergency - by the time we finally got to AKL we had to layover for 8+ hours (daytime), Air New Zealand put everyone in a hotel for the day. So well done.
2. In more recent years (say only 20 years ago) a flight from LAX to SYD had to divert to BNE due to low fuel (can't recall why but I think headwinds) - the "nice" thing United did was allow passengers whose final destination would have been BNE to disembark (they had to call in border control) but their luggage still went to SYD. Many passengers were confused as it was DLS and could not figure out why the reported time seemed to be off by an hour.

 

[markis10]

Got on the wrong Northwest jumbo at ITM after a flight from JFK that was heading to SYD. Ended up going back to JFK, on short final gear up flaps up and diverted to EWR, as the previous departure didn’t depart after reaching 14 ft of altitude.

TWA Flight 843 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Bundy Bear]

Adelaide to Brisbane on a 737-400 ending up going to Sunshine Coast Airport.

Landed about 9;30 after doing circles around the north of Brisbane due to storms, then we had to wait for the storm to cross over the sunshine coast then we ended up getting a bus back to Brisbane, left MCY just after midnight and arrived about 1:30am to Brisbane airport and arived home around 2:00am.

 

[elanshin]

Flew HND-SYD last year. Bad storm over SYD saw us circling then eventually head off to CBR. Pretty funny once we got on the ground thqt the captain authorised all those that needed to go to the toilet to go (as we weren't parked) because he had to go too.

Eventually made it back to SYD just before midnight after picking up some fuel.

 

[PERLHR]

Couple of times. Intended destination was home in Gibraltar. Ended up in Málaga Spain. Also Bristol England. Finished up in Exeter. That was quite a long bus journey back to Bristol.

 

[equus]

Not me but my partner. Flying MEL-BNE. I was going to pick up from the airport, and monitoring scheduled arrival time so as to leave home and make the pick up - evening pick up as it was a close of business flight back. Leave home when around 20 mins to scheduled arrival (works out about right to allow for disembarkation etc).

Driving in the scheduled arrival time is going all over the place (weather is a bit dicey, but not too bad). As it seemed times were changing, headed to the services area (with the petrol station, parking etc.) to check what was going on.

Scheduled arrival time was now quite a bit out - but was scheduled for Sydney now. Diverted.

Plane landed in Sydney, was on the ground for a while (I think some refuelling), then departs Sydney to head to Brisbane. Makes it out of Sydney before curfew, and arrives (very late now) in Brisbane.

Looks like a decision was made quite early to divert while there was enough time to get to Sydney, fuel and get out again before curfew rather than taking the risk of waiting until later, then diverting and getting stuck in Sydney due to curfew.

 

[PERLHR]

Was travelling to Paris on Ryanair (can’t remember which airport we were meant to be going to) and got diverted to Lille due to fog. Typical Ryanair chaos but buses were eventually provided to get us into Paris.

Airport would have been Beauvais.

 

[moa999]

Never had a diversion.
I did have on a CX flight into SIN an aborted landing on an 02 runway. We were literally flying with a storm cell.
We then did a 180 and landed from the opposite end on a 20 runway.

 

[AisleSeat]

Back in 1991. We were supposed to fly HKG-JNB and diverted to Taiwan where we waited overnight because of Mt Pinatubo eruption. My memories of that were being in a gate area with free snacks and drinks. There was another family sitting next us and their kid had the same birthday as me.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Flying PER to SYD on the midnight red-eye. Fell asleep by the window and woke up as we were descending into a dark Melbourne morning. Fog in Sydney diverted us. All escorted off the plane, waited an hour or so, then re-boarded to continue to SYD. I wasn't bothered, but there were some passengers who's ultimate destination after SYD was in fact MEL, but the airline refused to remove their baggage at MEL so they had to continue to SYD...

 

[kelvedon]

Was travelling to Paris on Ryanair (can’t remember which airport we were meant to be going to) and got diverted to Lille due to fog. Typical Ryanair chaos but buses were eventually provided to get us into Paris.

Some LCC’s might consider Lillle to be a Paris airport.

 

[Seat0B]

A couple of years back when QF1/2 were still via DXB! We were headed back to DXB from LHR on 23 Dec to have Christmas in Dubai with Seat Son. The flight would have landed in SYD at 0530 on Christmas Day for those flying right through. We were unable to land at DXB due to a severe sandstorm, and diverted to AlMahktoum (DWC). At that time, it was a big nothing- huge runways and parking bays, but nothing much else. We waited on the ground there for 4+ hours for the storm to pass. We were not allowed to leave the aircraft. We were in J, and were very well looked after with food and drink, but it was quite frustrating to be so close to destination and have to sit it out. Anyway, it cleared and we then flew over to DXB - a very short flight indeed. When we were collecting bags, there was quite a bit of grumbling from Y ox that ll they got during the delay was a bottle of water and a mini packet of pretzels . And I guess the people going home to SyD missed Christmas lunch.

And that’s my only diversion in all my years of flying.

I did once, however, cause a go around on landing into Canberra by having a severe larnygospasm during the final stages of descent that was so loud and scary for everyone around that the CSM leaped out of his seat and gave me oxygen. The pilots then announced “ you will have noticed we just did a go round so the crew can attend to a passenger with medical needs.” I was seriously embarrassed by this, but the crew and the surrounding pax were amazingly kind.

 

[Katie]

Yup, on a status run/early anniversary trip with Mr Katie in June 2023. BNE-SYD-CHC and return.
SYD-CHC was delayed IIRC and then there was fog in CHC (we would have been landing around 1-2 am). We ended up being diverted to WLG.

Very frustrating experience, though we managed to nab some chairs in the big waiting area. We heard no announcements, our flight wasn't on the information boards at all. I eventually realised we all had to check in again (we were HLO) physically. We spent about an hour in queue. We were given a $20 or something food voucher each, but we really didn't need food, just sleep. As the info boards weren't showing anything, and the baording time on our new BPs had elapsed, we went to the gate, and sat on the floor there and waited.

Eventually we took off with new crew, had lovely views of the mountains and were checked in to our CHC hotel by 8:30am. Had to argue my Hilton points for that one, despite telling the hotel about our diversion through chat, it was registered as a no-show night. We crashed for a few hours before enjoying the afternoon in CHC.

Oh, and one lady in J just didn't board the flight from WLG-CHC. Not sure what happened.

 

[PERLHR]

Some LCC’s might consider Lillle to be a Paris airport.

Just like Avalon Melbourne.

 

[RSD]

Being a NW Tassie resident I've had the evening MEL-DPO turn into MEL-lots of circling over DPO-MEL a few times.

Back in December 2019 I was going to a conference in the U.S. in Norfolk, Virginia. My itinerary was MEL-LAX-DFW-Charlotte-Norfolk, landed in Charlotte to a very messed up situation due to a winter storm that was just about to shut down air travel, my flight to Norfolk had been cancelled, and at the AA info desk I was given a new boarding pass and told "run to gate 22". Got to 22, they were waiting for me and scanned my boarding pass and onto the plane I went. It wasn't until we were airborne that I found out this plane wasn't going to Norfolk - it was going to Richmond - about 90 miles from Norfolk! When I landed in Richmond I tried to get the slightest bit of help from AA - but there wasn't a care factor to be found, and my luggage hadn't made the flight either.


I couldn't get decent phone reception inside the terminal so I was standing out the front of the terminal in the dark in trousers and a polo shirt trying to book an Uber to Norfolk, it was that damn cold that I was struggling to get either my phone or my fingers to work. Eventually managed to book an Uber, and made it to Norfolk. Receptionist at the motel I was staying at took pity on me and organised for the hotel's courtesy car to take me to Walmart to buy some clothes and dinner. My luggage arrived about 3 days later, about half of the conference attendees never made it due to the storms.

Apart from that I can't recall any other diversions, only other major thing was being stuck in Cairo by the great Dubai flood for a few days.