codfather

Lots of great things to do in St. John's this time of year! I certainly wouldn't mind an overnight diversion, it would be fun to experience somewhere new!

codfather

Update:

I went out to the airport a few minutes ago to get a look at G-YMMU. Looks like it will remain parked for the next little while, APU attached, and it is parked away from all the gates.

It would be nice if it had an extended stay! Can't say I would mind having a beautiful BA Triple-7 parked at my home airport!

plunet

What happens in these kinds of situations? I assume that usually the local immigration will usually make things happen to accommodate passengers being able to leave the airport if needed, hopefully as smoothly as possible.

Does the airline end up getting billed for something by immigration authorities to compensate them for their flexibility?
(I realise that this is a very open ended query and approaches will vary massively from place to place)

AJA_

I like that you think it was a very warm day in St John's with a temperature of 12 degrees Celsius.

It's all relative though. 12 degrees is not warm. It's warmer than 0 degrees but a lot colder than the destination.

Airprox

YMMA is the replacement aircraft.

nick.t.davies

Processes for diversions to a third country are covered under ICAO rules to allow for this exact thing so no $7 CAD due. Also there's likely persons without any right to be in Canada without a full visa let alone an eTV and these are covered as well.

ajeleonard

Exactly. Most countries are pragmatic about these things. A small number, e.g. Russia, are not and become a giant pain in the event of diversion/IRROPS

jms_uk

Considering they left London where is 11 degrees now, it's not a big temperature difference.

jms_uk

I believe France is too (or at least used to be some years ago).

alex67500

They were a couple of years ago on a silly situation where the last 2 Eurostars out of Paris were cancelled. The first train was all boarded and for the second most people were already through customs and security. They were standing at the end of the platform "unwinding" the exit of Schengen for people who didn't have freedom of movement. The UK Border Force were uninterested and simply dealt with these cases of people who were technically "already in the UK" on the next day.

Keep it Riel

If you want to see how Canadians handle diverted planes, go see Come From Away. Easiest if you live in London, New York, Melbourne, Shanghai, Toronto or a place its touring too.

BrianDromey

I wonder if the risk of illegal immigration is taken into account? The likelihood of anyone knowing that their assigned aircraft from London to the Caribbean would develop a technical fault is zero and as BA have a responsibility to get everyone to their final destination, matching manifests should be pretty easy, if someone were to disappear into the night. British, EU, Cayman Islands and Bahamas nationals can travel visa free to Canada for up to 90 days, so for the majority there shouldn't be a huge issue. The Government of Canada note that eTA's are exempt for "Foreign nationals who are passengers on a flight that makes an unscheduled stop in Canada." eTA are only for visa waiver countries, but I cant see the immigration authorities throwing a passenger into an immigration detention facility in this scenario.

aabah

eTA, no. ESTA.... maybe.

codfather

Warm given that it is November. If it were summer here, I would say that is freezing lol

JamieABZ

Even if musicals are not your thing I think this is a must-see for frequent flyers - being that it is mostly a true story about 38 diverted planes being forced into Gander on 9/11. Great story, very well told.