Looks like these passengers got to London quicker than another group of passengers got to Shanghai in 2012. I still remember the coverage on that delay:
If there's a contest for worst travel experience of the year, United Airlines Flight 857 might be in the running.
The plane departed San Francisco on Sunday for a 13-hour trip to Shanghai. But most of the 262 passengers didn't get to China until Tuesday evening -- three days late -- after an unplanned and prolonged layover in Anchorage, Alaska.
About three hours into the flight, the United jetliner was diverted to Anchorage because of broken bathrooms. When a replacement plane arrived Monday, it also was grounded because of mechanical problems, prompting most of the passengers to catch a third plane Tuesday.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/21/travel...gers-stranded/
And the discussion on the UA forum here:
Stranded in Alaska for two days by UAL - Advice?
And one quote from that thread that could just as well be about the Goose Bay diversion:
Originally Posted by
chikai
United Airlines failed on so many levels – shockingly poor crisis management, lack of information, insufficient dissemination of information, and of course, the mechanical failures.