When it comes to flying, we all know that sometimes things don’t go as planned. Weather, technical issues, or even medical emergencies can cause flights to be diverted unexpectedly. Diversions can be inconvenient, stressful, or downright frustrating. So, we want to know: what’s the worst diversion you’ve ever experienced?
25 Responses
2011 or so. I went to St. Louis MO for a quick day trip. Couple of hours up from DFW. Couple hours back. 5 days later I get back home after 4 nights in a hotel in Columbus OH. Snow rolled in through DFWto St. Louis to Columbus and even though I was a high mileage customer couldn’t get a flight home earlier.
Hamburg-Manchester got diverted to Stansted at first before being told we were above the MLW and we ended up in billund leading to a 2 day delay
Worst ever on several levels. A flight attendant tragically passed in flight, leaving Venice for PHL. We diverted into DUB.
RIP Carol.
Diversion out of VCE, as a passenger into DUB. A flight attendant passed in flight. RIP Carol.
Just this Christmas, we were due to fly Glasgow to Auckland via Frankfurt and Vancouver ( we were going to have 3 nights in Vancouver as a stopover). Due to airline issues, and the weather, we ultimately flew Edinburgh to Frankfurt- missed our connectionto Vancouver due to late arrival in Frankfurt, forcing us to overnight in Frankfurt, and then on to Auckland via Shanghai China!
Well over 20 years ago now. Flying from Scotland to Syria. Too much fog at Damascus airport to land so we diverted to Jordan. Later, cleared for take off but a fault was discovered with the plane before takeoff. Several hours later we were eventually loaded onto buses and driven back to Damascus from Amman.
Flying DFW to HKG in 2019 on AA, and having to divert to Seoul because we didn’t have enough fuel (it was American’s longest flight at 16+ hours and we had heavy headwinds). The chaos of 200+ people with no visas showing up in a foreign country, needing hotels and everything that goes with it. Not to mention coming in to land right next to NK with a big American flag on the tail of the aircraft… 🙂
Flew Florence to Amsterdam and diverted to Munich. It was during the World Cup and Amsterdam closed due to weather. The preferred alternate airport (Frankfurt) closed due to a game, so had to fly further away. Spent the night in a free cheapie hotel provided by KLM then flew in the morning.
Continental airlines 777 from San Francisco to Tokyo-Narita diverted to Midway Islands due to engine failure over the Pacific Ocean! Slept in an army bunker for a night until a replacement jet carried us on to Narita.
Circa 1997 a Skywest flight, ONT to LAX, about a 40 mile flight, was released by TMU. They did NOT check with the LAX arrival sector to see if there was room. It is IFR at LAX and it is the morning arrival rush, so Skywest departs via route on V16 to LAHAB intersection. There is no room at LAX due to aircraft arriving for far away lands, so Skywest holds for 45+ minutes, then diverts to PSP about 100+ miles east of LAHAB and LAX. It refuels then is cleared back to LAHAB. It holds another 20 minutes before there is enough to get into LAX. 2 hour delay + fuel + crew time pay, everyone on Skywest misses there outbound flights from LAX so all passengers are delayed, Skywest is hugely delayed, all because TMU couldn’t be bothered to see if there was space available at LAX.
Incredible delay of somewhere around 3 1/2 hours for a 20-30 minute flight.
Got caught in an Air Canada strike in 1998. The rebooking by Air Canada through other airlines had me visit 9 airports, with 7 flights, on 8 different airplanes – all within 30 hours. Started in Charlottetown, PEI; flew to Halifax; flew to Montreal Dorval; flew to Toronto Island airport; took bus to Toronto Pearson; flew to Winnipeg; flew to Regina; stayed overnight; flew to Calgary; boarded for the flight to Edmonton, but there was a mechanical problem; transferred to another plane and finally flew to Edmonton.
Paris to Atlanta on a 777 delayed to problems with toilets. One hour into flight, Captain announces that we divert to Gatwick to repair toilets. After a couple of hours, trucks pull up to plane. People came on board carrying 2-liter bottles of water, giving two bottles to each passenger. Captain announces that the water is primarily for toilet flushing! We resume flight. Observe people walking toward toilets with bottle in hand. I drank half of mine but never needed the other half.
1985 Pacific Western Airlines – Planned Edmonton to Resolute Bay. 737 Freighter with 30 seats. Flight route Edmonton- Yellowknife (fuel) – Cambridge Bay (several hour hold)- Resolute Bay (missed approach in fog) – Yellowknife (delay and change planes) – Resolute Bay (fog did not attempt approach) – Yellowknife (fuel) -Edmonton. 19 hours and back in the same place. 4 days later, full plane of passengers, bright sunny day, smooth landing, no luggage…
Departed Queenstown NZ bound for Australia at start of journey to Manchester UK via Dubai, mechanical fault during first leg caused diversion to Auckland NZ. Was transferred to AirNZ route LA -London with a domestic hop to Manchester, arrived 1/2 hour earlier than original itinerary having gone the other way round the world!
In August 2022 we were booked on Lufthansa Manchester- Munich connecting Munich-Venice to meet a cruise ship docked at Ravenna Italy. On reaching Munich the connection to Venice was cancelled, we were rerouted Munich- Frankfurt connecting Munich to Venice on reaching Frankfurt the connection to Venice was cancelled, we were then rerouted to Bologna ( the closest airport to our ship at Ravenna). This flight circled Bologna and due to a thunderstorm returned us to Frankfurt. By this time we had been at airport gates or in the air from 7am until 11pm we were given a hotel bed until 6am the following day when we were routed Frankfurt-Naples which we reached minus our luggage which they had unsurprisingly lost.
During Covid I Spent 7+ hours in an airline hotline to rebook my canceled flight. That happened 3 days in a row. I ended up on the first flight after several lockdowns from FRA to LAX. Being the first passenger going through security for months at FRA as well. Crazy times.
Stuck on runway at YYZ for 6 hours before 35 min flight to YOW.
14 hours YYZ-YYZ round trip: YYZ to YHZ attempted landing at YHZ twice before diverting to YUL and ultimately ending back at YYZ.
Some time in the ’80s I was flying Bangkok to Kathmandu. There is a pass on the journey that Thai Airways would only fly on VFR and that pass was full of cloud. We diverted to Calcutta and spent the day in the transit lounge. Let’s just say it was an experience. Flew back to Bangkok and spent the night in a hotel and lined up with same crew and had a successful flight to Kathmandu.
Fortunately, my only diversion.
In 1987 I was flying from New York into Heathrow for the first time, scheduled to arrive on what turned out to be the morning after the Great Storm of 1987.
The plane was temporarily diverted to Prestwick Airport. During the landing, the passenger next to me was able to see and point out to me his home, as that was his intended final stop.
I’ll never forget the fraught onward journey from Heathrow onto my relative’s place in Frome, Somerset. It took all day and I witnessed the devastation of the storm first hand.
In 1970 I had booked a charter flight from AMS to JFK. The aircraft was a Bristol Britannia from DIA (Donaldson International Airways). Due to technical problems the aircraft arrived in AMS many hours late. The captain explained that the weather radar was broken and that we would therefore have to fly to LGW for repairs. There we had to get out and wait 2 to 3 hours until the repairs were done. We then flew off to YQX (Gander Newfoundland), but over Ireland an engine failed and you could see the stationary propeller. We then flew back to LGW and landed with the fire brigade driving parallel to the runway. We were taken by bus to a hotel in Brighton and then half a day later were picked up after another aircraft from DIA, also a Bristol Britannia, was arrived. After about 10 hours of flying we landed in Newfoundland, where we walked around between the planes, the runway and the airport building because we were told that there were no takeoffs or landings planned. After another 5 hours of flying we landed at JFK.
In the 1970s I was due to fly MAN-ZRH-TIP on Swissair. We departed MAN on time but diverted to GVA dur to fog at ZRH. When finally allowed to disembark we were flown GVA-ZRH with the assurance that the ZRH-TIP flight was being held for us. It wasn’t. After an overnight in Zurich we were re-routed ZRH-GVA-TUN-TIP. We boarded for the first leg only to be disembarked immediately to get lunch in the airport as GVA was fog-bound and catering was due to be loaded there. We boarded again after a splendid lunch and as we were climbing out of ZRH, GVA opened so we descended for a landing. The first approach was aborted due to minimums but second time around we were successful. After collecting passengers and departing GVA we were running well behind schedule. As we taxied in at at TUN we could see the TIP flight departing. Visiting the Swissair office we were told that no seats were available until Monday (this was Friday) and we were given rooms in the Hilton. On Saturday morning the three of us on this trip spoke with Swissair again and they put us on a waitlist with yet another airline and provided us with transport to the airport to try our luck. For once Lady Luck was smiling on us and we got the last three seats on that flight to TIP.
On and yes I was affected by the Heathrow fire today. Our flight from Singapore was diverted to Gatwick where we spent over 5 hours waiting for our bags to be delivered from the aircraft.
I had an United flight from amsterdam to new york when we had a problem so we landed in iceland, way to cold
Here’s an ancient one for you. In 1990 on the Concorde from Paris to New York. We experienced a “pompage” over the mid-Atlantic which required shutting down one of the four engines.
The plane then had to continue at sub-sonic speed and then required a refueling stop in Gander, Newfoundland. We arrived in New York in 7.5 hours rather than the normal 3.5.
To this day I am not sure what a pompage is.
But the French cabin staff eased the pain with Champagne, Foie Gras and Remy Martin Cognac. Vive La France.
Not the worst but the most interesting for me. 20 min or so from landing at our destination (SFO), from Oahu, and I see the screen in front of me flip 90 degrees and changes destination to LAX. Captain came on and said that we were diverting to LAX, SFO is closed. Thinking earthquake or something, my son checked online and said that an airplane crashed on approach. It was Asiana 214 triple 7 that smacked the backend on the runway. So after landing in LAX, my uncle that lived in W Hollywood came out to the airport and had some eats with us. There were no flights to anywhere close to SMF where we live. Finally, after being put up in a sleezy motel in Inglewood overnight, they said the only flight close was SJO. So we took it, one of my daughters lives in Santa Clara, picked us up at SJO, had lunch, then took us over to the train station. Met up with my sons girlfriend who lived in San Jose, and she joined us for the train trip up to Sacramento, where my other daughter picked us up and drove us to our home in the Sierra foothills. By the time we got home, the Hawaiian vacation vibe had abandoned us. Sorry this is so long.
I was supposed to fly on a TWA L1011 from Gatwick to Philadelphia but one passenger didn’t board although he’d checked a suitcase and it was in the baggage compartment. Oh, Oh.
The airport paged the guy over and over and got no response so all the luggage was unloaded onto the tarmac. TWA should have evacuated the plane but didn’t so I got to watch security people gingerly looking at name tags in a hodgepodge of hundreds of bags.
You could tell when one of them found it; everyone else backed away, except for us in the plane. Then what looked like a hockey goalie waddled up and walked away with it.
I saw someone in the glass tunnel running toward us and waving what had to be a boarding pass while they were throwing our bags back in the plane Yup, you guessed it, the missing passenger. He sure didn’t get to board; they probably arrested him. If he had, we’d have killed him.
So what does all that have to do with diversion? Well, they finished loading the luggage, but someone slammed the hatch and broke the latch. That’s right, a broken hatch latch and nobody had a spare anywhere.
You can’t have your L1011 flying across the Atlantic with the luggage hatch flapping so TWA had to put me up in a seedy airport hotel and I flew home the next day on the same plane.