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There's a difference between the onboard service and cabin (and god are BA shit), and the flight safety. That said BA earned a hell of a black mark when it cho

by wtch98 4y ago

There's a difference between the onboard service and cabin (and god are BA shit), and the flight safety. That said BA earned a hell of a black mark when it chose to divert to Heathrow rather than Stansted or even Gatwick when its engine was on fire [1]. Not as much as when Air France decided to divert from Lebanon to Damascus in the middle of a civil war rather than Cyprus because it was cheaper [2] [1] https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/ba-flight-returns-to-heathrow-after-engine-catches-fire-minutes-after-taking-off-a3628601.html https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/ba-flight-returns-to-... [2] https://globalvoices.org/2012/08/26/france-an-epic-flight-from-paris-to-beirut-via-damascus/ https://globalvoices.org/2012/08/26/france-an-epic-flight-fr...

trimbo 4y ago
> That said BA earned a hell of a black mark when it chose to divert to Heathrow rather than Stansted or even Gatwick when its engine was on fire After declaring an emergency, if they landed at Heathrow, that was at the pilot's discretion or due to limiting factors like runway length at Gatwick and the weight of their plane. The article is light on detail but they circled over Kent as well, so the pilots must have thought it was safe after shutting down the engine.
- wtch98 4y ago
  In the process dropping debris over one of the largest cities in Europe. Gatwick and Stansted can take any plane just as easily as Heathrow, but has less on ground resources to fix the plane.
- mpalfrey 4y ago
  Runway length at LGW is OK for a 777. I'd guess they knew it was safe and it's easier to deal with a plane full of pax at your originating airport than diverting to STN (where there's no BA ops) or LGW (BA have ops here so could have worked).
  - darrenf 4y ago
    > STN (where there's no BA ops) BA did fly from STN in 2017, at the time of the incident - they served short haul tourist routes like PMI, AGP, FLR, IBZ.
ramraj07 4y ago
Honestly I’ll take the incremental odds that I’ll be the unlucky guy in the first ever Qatar plane crash over the absolute dogpile BA calls service now (having just received my missed business class bag after a full week of no communication or updates).

by wtch98 4y ago

trimbo 4y ago

> That said BA earned a hell of a black mark when it chose to divert to Heathrow rather than Stansted or even Gatwick when its engine was on fire After declaring an emergency, if they landed at Heathrow, that was at the pilot's discretion or due to limiting factors like runway length at Gatwick and the weight of their plane. The article is light on detail but they circled over Kent as well, so the pilots must have thought it was safe after shutting down the engine.

wtch98 4y ago
In the process dropping debris over one of the largest cities in Europe. Gatwick and Stansted can take any plane just as easily as Heathrow, but has less on ground resources to fix the plane.
mpalfrey 4y ago
Runway length at LGW is OK for a 777. I'd guess they knew it was safe and it's easier to deal with a plane full of pax at your originating airport than diverting to STN (where there's no BA ops) or LGW (BA have ops here so could have worked).
- darrenf 4y ago
  > STN (where there's no BA ops) BA did fly from STN in 2017, at the time of the incident - they served short haul tourist routes like PMI, AGP, FLR, IBZ.

ramraj07 4y ago

Honestly I’ll take the incremental odds that I’ll be the unlucky guy in the first ever Qatar plane crash over the absolute dogpile BA calls service now (having just received my missed business class bag after a full week of no communication or updates).