After a man’s British Airways flight from London Heathrow to Chicago O’Hare diverted to Cincinnati on the 4th of July, that passenger says BA “abandoned him.” They “refused to help” get him back home and, he says, after “10+ calls to [American Airlines and British Airways] ustomer service” told him to:
“figure out [your] way home and situation on [your] own
Storms were bad, and two British Airways London – Chicago flights diverted on Saturday.
- BA299 — Boeing 777-200, registration G-VIIM – Departed London Heathrow 1:09 p.m. and diverted to Cincinnati arriving at 6:01 p.m.
- BA295 — Boeing 787-10, registration G-ZBLA. Departed London Heathrow 1:31 p.m. and diverted to Cincinnati arriving at 6:26 p.m.
Fortuantely, “an extremely patient and friendly baggage claim employee” helped get him booked onto United back to Chicago.
His United flight 1813 from Cincinnati to Chicago O’Hare wound up delayed about 6 hours due to the same storms that caused his inbound London flight to divert. And, as often happens with long delays, passengers give up waiting or more to other flights. That’s the usual reason this happens: he had the entire flights to himself.
The flight crew was incredibly kind – let me meet the pilots, sit in the cockpit for a pic, sit anywhere I wanted on the plane, gave me free snacks, and even gave special announcements throughout the flight directly to me.
I was the only passenger on the United flight last night
by
u/Jaykwono in
aviation
He was literally the only passenger on this United Airlines Boeing 737. The pilots welcomed him into the cockpit for photos (they kept the cockpit door closed for the flight, per FAA regulations), he was encouraged to sit in first class, had unlimited snacks, and announcements were made just to him.
While he’s probably not entitled to UK261 cash delay compensation, because the diversion would have been done for safety and would be considered “extraordinary circumstances.” However, they’re still responsible for his onward transportation to his destination and for meals at the O’Hare airport while he waited out that United flight until well past midnight.
It was a mere two weeks ago that another United Airlines customer had a flight all to themselves.
Everyone always thinks that airlines cancel flights because they haven’t sold enough tickets. That’s almost never true. They’re going to need the plane in the next city to operate the next flight. They’re going to need the crew in the next city, too, to continue their sequence. They could cancel the flight and if they don’t get the crew to that next city, if they just break the trip and send other pilots and flight attendants, they’re paying employees twice! So they send the plane.
I’ve flown alone in first class many times, on Singapore Airlines; Thai Airways; Korean Air; ANA; Lufthansa and several others. But I’ve never had an entire aircraft to myself.
The closest I came was in the late 80s from New York to Cincinnati with just two or three other passengers after a series of delays and then my January 1, 2000 (“Y2K”) flight on United from Los Angeles to Washington Dulles flight was on a near-empty Boeing 777 because everyone else was afraid to fly that day.
I doubt BA left him to fend for himself. BA needs that airframe in ORD for flights back to LHR plus it appears every other passenger found a way to get to ORD or a final destination. Its cool he got an entire flight to himself, but should BA have said “find your own way to ORD” this flight would have easily been filled.
I was on a PDX-ORD flight (737) with one other PAX.
It was on one of the first flights that resumed after the country-wide ground stop in Sept 2001.
I was orginally booked to fly on that fateful September day – after the second tower was struck – we turned the car around and returned home. I had desire to hangout watching news all day at the Airport. I knew there would be flight delays.
They declared the ground stop shortly after that IIRC.
If his itinerary originated in the UK, then UK261 applies, meaning the airline has a duty of care, regardless of the cause for the delay, including weather, to get the affected passenger(s) to their destination, as soon as possible, even on competitors, so… we really should have better protections in the US. Bring back Rule 240, at least.
I was alone in business from cebu to Doha and in coach’s class it was 10 pax… not only ones it became became twice, because of the pandemic time…..QR
When I was in college in the early 70s I had a 40 min. DTW-CMH flight all to myself (I think it was Northwest Airlines). I don’t remember if they let me sit in first class (or if there even was an FC).
It appears that both of those diverted BA planes spent the night at CVG.
The 787-10 (G-ZBLA) never flew to ORD, but instead was ferried back to LHR as flight BA9609.
The 777-200 (G-VIIM) flew to ORD on 7/5, arriving early evening and then continued onto LHR as flight BA298.
Many years ago on 4th July I was on an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Tampa with only three other passengers. As well as needing the plane in Tampa, the crew said the flight could not be canceled as it was carrying mail.