upinsmoke

AA (and I think most US-based airlines) are just terrible at communicating when stuff hits the fan, I agree. The frontline people appear to not know themselves what's going on, and are not really empowered to help customers. The AAngels in the Admiral's Club show that it's possible for frontline employees to be empowered to help. AA is just not funding the number of employees needed to do it for everyone.

mvoight

JFK-DEL 7318
JFK-LHR-DEL 7642
I suspect they diverted when they were in Europe for medical
I would guess transit is not a problem as I expect at they are all (or nearly all) US citizens, US Permanent Residents, US Visa holders

This is for exiting the airport at LHR
Given they started in the US, I suspect they all qualified under this

Transiting without a visa

You may be eligible to transit without a visa if:

• you arrive and depart by air
• have a confirmed onward flight that leaves on the day you arrive or before midnight on the day after you arrive
• have the right documents for your destination (eg a visa for that country)

• One of the following must also apply:
  
• you’re travelling to (or on part of a reasonable journey to) Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the USA and have a valid visa for that country
• you’re travelling from (or on part of a reasonable journey from) Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the USA and have a valid visa for that country
• you’re travelling from (or on part of a reasonable journey from) Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the USA and it’s less than 6 months since you last entered that country with a valid entry visa
• you have a permanent residence permit issued by Australia or New Zealand
• you have a common format residence permit issued by an European Economic Area (EEA) country or Switzerland
• you have a permanent residence permit issued by Canada on or after 28 June 2002
• you have a uniform format category D visa for entry to a country in the EEA or Switzerland
• you have an Irish biometric visa (marked ‘BC’ or ‘BC BIVS’ in the ‘Remarks’ section) and an onward flight ticket to the Republic of Ireland
• you’re travelling from the Republic of Ireland and it’s less than 3 months since you were last given permission, on the basis of holding a valid Irish biometric visa, to land or be in Ireland
• you have a valid USA permanent residence card issued by the USA on or after 21 April 1998
• you have a valid USA I-551 Temporary Immigrant visa issued by the USA (a wet-ink stamp version will not be accepted)
• you have an expired USA I-551 Permanent Residence card issued by the USA on or after 21 April 1998, with a valid I-797 letter authorising extension
• you have a valid standalone US Immigration Form 155A/155B issued by the USA (attached to a sealed brown envelope)

J S

Sure, it is complex and I am not a pilot. However, from the point they turned around to landing is longer than the flight from Paris to London. From when they started to turn, it was 43 minutes until touch down and they stayed at 33,000 ft. nearly half the way back to LHR. I assume that when it is a life and death emergency and every second counts, and you are over a bunch of major airports, you can get on the ground in less than 43 minutes.

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/f...aa292#2c0bc734

Not saying they made a bad choice, but it drives home the point that they likely intentionally landed at an airport that has significant AA infrastructure and staff. Therefore, it is reasonable to hold them to a higher standard than if the emergency had required a landing at, say Cologne where one could not expect the same of AA.

DMPHL

Not to mention fuel dumping, etc. that would take time and distance anyway.

Grmaht

you can transit via airside not landside. Passengers were allowed to ‘land’ and clear immigration to be put up in hotels which these rules are null and void if you don’t have a UK visa or citizenship that does not require a visa

sbrower

Even the rebookings can be complex. If I remember correctly, some airports in Europe require Covid vaccination even for transit and there might have actually been some people on the plane who were not vaccinated. And some people don't want to transit through certain other countries (particularly in the ME). And some people would probably rather see London (even for 36 hours). So until you have time to speak with each customer it is hard to have an "auto-rebook," particularly on international flights with less than one hour notice.

ijgordon

And lets say that there were 250 passengers (or more specifically, 250 PNRs) on the flight, and that it takes an average of 5 minutes to find alternative space, rebook and reissue the ticket. That's 21 man-hours of work to re-book the flight. I don't know if this can be done automatically since none of these passengers were ever supposed to be in LHR in the first place. Can they pull 42 agents off their regular duties (I have no idea how many may be working at a given time) and get it done in a half hour? Seems like a tall order. I would think the path of least resistance is to let the crew get their mandatory rest and then just resume the flight as soon as they can. They need to get the equipment to DEL anyway.

IADCAflyer

They were 50% into their flight so my guess is that there was no need to dump fuel.

Grmaht

More about this debacle here. The aircraft and passengers are still stranded in London!

https://simpleflying.com/american-ai...-diverted/amp/

knit-in

My goodness! This sounds like a nightmare. These passengers from 5/29 are still in LHR!

Grmaht

looks like flight is finally making its way to DEL today.

Passmethesickbag

It must be a great comfort to them that there are six daily non-stop flights and any number of connecting ones between London and Delhi

bchandler02

Not just aviation. They regularly make things very difficult for businesses - even when the solution would be a benefit to the Indian people.

J S

All somewhat mute at this point, since they say on the ground for *way* over 21 hours. It really is hard to look at AA's performance in a positive light.

J S

As of now--2.5 days later--the plane is still on the ground at LHR!

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/n725an

Correction: It did take off almost 2 days later.