Nobs&dials

Flying LHR-IAH approaching the eastern seaboard, the 747 made a sharp turn north and we ended up landing at Halifax. September 11th 2001.
Spent the next three nights sleeping on the floor of the University’s gym until air space re-opened and we were flown back to LHR.

psollitt

Was on a KLM Fokker 100, AMS to LBA , in 2007, we stopped descending, went into a holding pattern ,I could clearly see a BMI A320 on the runway ... The KLM captain came over the intercom to inform us we were having to divert to MME, the problem was the BMI captain had inadvertently landed with the parking break in the 'ON' position !

Then a bus long coach ride back to Leeds from Teeside added a fair few hours onto my day !

The_Bouncer

On a BA flight from LHR to MEL back in the days when BA used to land first at SYD and then tag on to MEL, there was an airport closure for some reason at SYD and we diverted to - you guessed it - MEL. I don't remember much about that one as I was maybe 10 or 11 at the time, but I remember that half the plane was delighted and half were very annoyed.

Another one, however, tangentially related to BA. I was flying SIN-LHR-ORK in 2015 to repatriate my father's ashes. Uncharacteristically for me I ended up on the overnight westbound from SIN to LHR, which I usually avoid like the plague. But on this occasion, it was the only 1-stop routing I could get and to minimise the palaver involved with taking ashes as hand luggage, it seemed the most sensible option.

As is always the case for me, I was awake throughout the overnight westbound. I had a flare-up of an ankle injury at the time and was stuck in a hated window seat.

On arrival at LHR after a dog of a run, I grabbed a shower at the Plaza lounge during my multi-hour layover, depositing Bouncer Senior's urn behind the lounge bar for safe keeping - a place he would have approved of!

At some point my cousin in Cork phone me and told me there was severe weather there and all the flights from regional UK airports seemed to be cancelled. ​​​​​My EI connection was fine though - or so we thought.

Everything was lovely and smooth until the approach to ORK, when the buffeting really started to be felt. A few hundred feet above the ground, the pilot gunned the engines and back up we went.

After a couple of circles, we seemed to get into a more straight course. My seatmate gave me a resigned look and said, "We're off to [expletive deleted] Shannon". She was right. 15 minutes or so after landing, we were told we would be bussed to ORK.

So, outside we all trooped to two coaches, which arrived surprisingly quickly. Thinking I was being smart, I held back from the scrum to crowd onto the first coach, in favour of a more comfortable ride on the second coach, which was clearly going to be much less full. Clever, eh? ​​I thought so. Until a very short way into the ride, when the coach broke down on the side of the road near Bunratty.

By this stage, I had been up for well over 36 hours and just didn't care any more. You know that point, where a journey has just been such a faff, that you just stop caring? So I hopped off the bus, carrying the urn in a calico bag, sat down on the verge, lit a cigarette, chuckled darkly and said, "There you go, you old bugger. I always said you'd be late for your own funeral"!

I don't even quite remember how I eventually got to Cork - I think the bus got fixed and we just carried on - but I do (partially) remember polishing off a truly profane amount of Bushmills with my cousin when I finally got there. Fortunately everything else the trip involved went smoothly.

Robespierre

Back in the early 90s BA used to run a Tristar between Muscat and London that stopped off at Dharan. In those days before the rise of the ME3, massive hubs and flat beds in J it was grim boarding between midnight and 2am for the trip back to UK (unless you were leaving KSA!) and there was little good humour to be found. So you can imagine the reaction shortly after take off from Muscat to the announcement that there was a tech fault and we would divert to Bahrain where the Tristar would be taken out of service and the ground staff would look after us.

Fair play to BA who tried to transfer as many of us as they could onto a passing 747 which was on its way back from Mauritius via the Seychelles (i’m not sure if Bahrain was a planned stop or they diverted the 747 to rescue us).

There was no way the Tristar Club cabin could be accommodated and I was downgraded to Y on the 747 but had the presence of mind to speak the CSD as I boarded in case any J seats opened up and was very happy to see him strolling down to my seat once boarding was complete. I was even happier as we carried on past Club and into First, which were the 2x2 seat pairs. I sat next to a very grumpy and rather dishevelled vicar (wearing his dog collar) who had naturally assumed he had a vacant seat next to him for the flight but we got chatting and he explained that his parishioners club together to pay for his annual holiday to Mauritius in F!

Sadly this was my one and only diversion but it was memorable for my first OpUp to F on BA and discovering that Kent is home to some extremely well-heeled churchgoers.

Crampedin13A

Robespierre's post just reminded me of a diversion I had on BA to JFK on a YYZ- LHR. This was in the early '80's recession when flights were very empty. A BA 747 had gone tech at JFK and they sent a few East Coast flights there including mine to pick up the stranded passengers to take them to LHR. Since my flight was less than half full we took on a lot of passengers. Doubt this would have happened in the last 20 odd years though

Jagboi

Maybe add YFB to your list, BA diverted there 2 years ago. The Frobisher Inn is quite nice. There is even a Tim Hortons now in case you get a craving for a maple glazed doughnut.

Confus

It’s clearly harder when flights are fuller than they used to be, but there are plenty of examples where this continues to happen. Repositionings particularly in the US are not at all uncommon.

BAECAddict

Great thread and has made fascinating reading for me at least. Two trips for me come to mind:

The first happened to me fairly recently and was discussed here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/32021109-post484.html. In essence our A319 was too heavy to get out of Innsbruck, dealing with strong winds en-route and hold before arriving at Heathrow and so we diverted to CDG to refuel. Not that startling really, but it hadn't crossed my mind previously that Innsbruck was that challenging for the performance of a fully-loaded A319 going to London.

The other was March 2013 when our Oslo to Heathrow flight was diverted to Stansted because a police helicopter had to enter the approach path into Heathrow... I assume after some ne'er-do-well in Hounslow, but who knows. Never did find out. The 20 minute flight from Stansted to Heathrow was a lot of fun though!

HIDDY

Seem to remember a thread on this subject before. On it I recalled the time my INV-GLA flight was diverted to ABZ to pick up some pax after their ABZ-GLA flight was cancelled due to the Vickers Viscount going sick. Nobody complained when we were told this would mean we'd end up arriving late into GLA.....even those who were connecting. Then again, that was back in the good old days when air passengers were much more chilled.....the free drams probably helped.

JSM8

Memorable diversions include:
Grenoble instead of Turin (and a bus over the Alps)
Shannon instead of Cork (Aer Lingus) landing near midnight, everything shut, including car rentals, so only option was a bus back to Cork, which passed my hotel 20 minutes before we got to Cork and would not let me off)
Detroit instead of Chicago (when the immigration officer asked what my business was in Detroit I was ready to scream. 7 hours later arrived at O'Hare on a J class only bus, which went in convoy with all the others!
And twice Porto Santo instead of Funchal......there's a great sandy beach on Porto Santo to while away the hours if you are stuck there