British Airways Plane To Germany Flew To Scotland, “Pilot Says He Doesn’t Know What Happened.”
27 March 2019
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The British Airways plane eventually reached its original destination. 

Own Correspondent|A British Airways flight from London to Germany went to Scotland instead, a mistake that no one realized until the plane was on the ground.

British Airways has been forced to apologize after the flight from London to Dusseldorf landed more than 965 km away in Edinburgh by mistake.

The detour happened after a sub-contracted crew used an incorrect flight plan and set off from London City airport for the Scottish capital instead of setting course for the Rhine.

British Airways said the aircraft — a 96-seat BAe-146 regional jet — was operated by German charter firm WDL Aviation on behalf of BA CityFlyer. The crew and aircraft were sub-contracted from WDL under an arrangement known as a “wet lease.”

“We are working with WDL Aviation, who operated this flight on behalf of British Airways, to establish why the incorrect flight plan was filed,” BA said in a statement.

“We have apologized to customers for this interruption to their journey and will be contacting them all individually.”

WDL Aviation said it had flown the passengers on to Dusseldorf after their unscheduled Scottish stopover.

“We are working closely with the authorities to investigate how the obviously unfortunate mix-up of flight schedules could occur,” it said in a statement.

WDL is owned by Berlin-based logistics firm Zeitfracht Group.

Passengers were shocked, as was the crew. “The pilot said he had no idea how it had happened,” a passenger said.

He evidently followed the flight plan he was given. Passengers first thought it was a joke, possibly because the crew asked passengers to put up their hands if they were expecting to go to Dusseldorf.

“What an interesting concept,” another passenger tweeted “I don’t think anyone on board has signed up for this mystery travel lottery.”

A student whose girlfriend was on the flight told CNN that she realized something was wrong when she saw mountains instead of the “usual German industrial landscape.” The passengers’ sense of humor was tested when the plane sat on the runway in Edinburgh for more than two hours awaiting permission to try again for Dusseldorf.

“It became very frustrating. The toilets were blocked, and they ran out of snacks,” a passenger told the BBC. “It was also really stuffy.”