chinc

Hi
The incoming flight BA219 LHR->DEN was late then diverted to DFW. Aircraft G-YMMG. I can see that the aircraft circled DEN before diverting to DFW. I've heard rumours of weather mentioned but plenty of other planes seem to be managing to land just fine. I can't understand why they only figured out the weather was an issue when they were about to land. Can anyone figure out the real reason for the diversion?

Currently the BA app is suggesting that the 7.30pm departure will now depart 01.23am next day.

No e-mails from BA, no announcements, no information. The staff at the Admiral Lounge don't know anything. General piss poor communication. Given the 6 hour odd delay and 0130 departure really I think they should have rescheduled for the next day but of course that would have meant providing us accommodation! And weather a nice excuse not to pay any compensation. The lounge was supposed to close at 7pm so not sure if we will get kicked out.

Thanks for any info.

Physci

ExpertFlyer shows the following for BA219 but I can’t see a delay reason given:

DOBA219/07MAY
* OPERATIONAL FLIGHT INFO * BA 219 -1 SA 07MAY22
CITY INFO HOUR (LOCAL)

DFW ESTIMATED TIME OF DEPARTURE 1600
*1A PLANNED FLIGHT INFO* BA 219 -1 SA 07MAY22 ASM
APT ARR DY DEP DY CLASS/MEAL EQP GRND EFT TTL
LHR 1445 SA JCDRIWETYBH/- 777 12:45
KMLVSNQOG/-
DFW 2130 SA 1230 SU JCDRIWETYBH/- 15:00 2:03
DEN 1333 SU 29:48
COMMENTS-
1.ENTIRE FLT- MEMBER OF ONEWORLD
2.LHR DFW - DEPARTS TERMINAL 5


BA218 has delay code of “OPEY” which I believe means “operational”.

DOBA218/07MAY
* OPERATIONAL FLIGHT INFO * BA 218 -1 SA 07MAY22
CITY INFO HOUR (LOCAL)

DEN NEXT INFO WILL BE AT 1500
ESTIMATED TIME OF DEPARTURE 2130
FLIGHT CANCELLED 2343
OPEY
ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL 1318 LHR
*1A PLANNED FLIGHT INFO* BA 218 -1 SA 07MAY22
APT ARR DY DEP DY CLASS/MEAL EQP GRND EFT TTL
DEN 1930 SA JCDRIWETYBH/M 777 9:00
KMLVSNQOG/M
LHR 1130 SU 9:00

corporate-wage-slave

From what I can make out, the flight will continue from DFW to DEN on Sunday, so arriving into DEN around 17:00. So one component to this is crew hours.

There originally wasn't going to be a Sunday DEN-LHR but now there will be, leaving at the usual time of 19:30.

I'm getting this from
ba.com/flightstatus

Now BA, and most airlines I can think of, are terrible at communications in this area. It would be great if there was a simple text box in MMB and the App which simply gave operational control in LHR the chance to put a few sentence explaining what is the cause of the problem, the resolution and next update. There will be dozens of coomuications going on between captain and London over this, but the loop back to those expecting to return on the service is always an after-thought, if that. However when you board the aircraft, and just as the doors are about to close, the captain will usually give a clear explanation, and it's a good idea to make a note of what s/he says.

The _Banking_Scot

Hi chinc,

Welcome to flyertalk and the BA forum .Sorry your first post has to do with a major delay.

In addition to c-w-s comments ,if BA has not provided a hotel and you have booked one yourself, keep a hold of the receipt and put in a claim afterwards ( a useful guide is around �200pn plus food exc alcohol) . BA does have a duty of care even with weather delays.

Regards

TBS

TGC

I was on the inbound BA219, we got to about 50 metres from the runway before we had to pull up!

Sat in Dallas right now, trying to work out how to get to Denver, right now the BA app is showing me booked on a United flight up to Denver tomorrow night.

UPDATE - The agent on the phone tells me our plane won't be flying up and has booked me on an AA flight up to Denver tody

corporate-wage-slave

My suspicion is that even if the aircraft goes DFW-DEN, it won't be taking passsenger, it is more of a positioning issue. Unless there is a technical problem too.

What did the captain say after the aborted landing?

Simonp27

I was also on the incoming flight that was diverted. The pilot said unexpected very poor weather just before landing was the cause, he claimed 4 other flights also aborted. He didn't have enough fuel to circle so off we went to Dallas.

BA booked me on the UA flight after 6pm today but have found my own AA flight this morning and bought the ticket. Apparently BA couldn't book me onto an economy ticket (which is all that AA have left today up to DEN) because I had bought a business ticket.

Overall well handled by the staff, these things happen.

Now enjoying the spacious and peaceful Flagship lounge.

wfiring12

I can confirm that DEN had some severe and not forecasted - albeit brief - weather yesterday around 18:00 hours. My ranch is about 60 km south of DEN and we had extremely strong winds and dust with zero visibility which lasted about 20-30 minutes. Even for this region, it was unusual because it was a sunny and calm day until moments before it occurred.

Raymoland

Nice job second guessing your experienced flight crew.

Here is the weather at the time of arrival:
KDEN 080009Z COR 02037G46KT 1SM R35L/P6000FT BLDU SCT110 BKN160 BKN220 19/04 A2952

Let me interpret that for you. The wind was blowing at 43mph with gusts to 54mph. This was, at least, diagonally across the runway, depending on the runway being approached. The visibility was 1 mile, in Blowing Dust. This weather was not in the forecast.

I'm guessing that Windshear was the cause. When a WS warning is received,it is mandatory that the crew perform a WS Escape manoeuver to avoid becoming a smoking hole in the ground, like Delta 1141 and many others. It's procedures like these that give the industry it's amazing safety record.

Because it was not forecast, your inbound flight didn't have enough fuel to attempt another approach and, if it had to go around again, have enough fuel to divert, so they instead, again, made a conservative safe decision and diverted to their alternate, keeping everyone safe.

Sorry that you have been inconvenienced.

chinc

Not my flight crew. I have never interacted or spoken with them or sat on their aircraft, and now that BA have cancelled the flight, I never will. In the absence of any communications from BA, all I have is hearsay from the staff on the Admiral lounge desk. And according to them, they were struggling to get in contact with BA. I have been previously diverted due to a blizzard at MSP with Virgin and the comms were significantly better.

Thanks for all the replies corporate-wage-slave The_Banking_Scot TGC Simon027. As corporate-wage-slave very astutely observed almost all of the issue is communication to passengers sat on the ground. Good luck getting to DEN TGC. Anyway, BA eventually went onto cancel the flight, having previously said that it would be delayed.

7.30pm - planned departure
8pm - E-mail saying that it had been delayed overnight. We then got a lounge announcement saying this e-mail might have been in error and we should continue waiting. After more waiting the BA app was showing the flight re-scheduled to 8am next day and told to collect our luggage.
9.30pm - Collected bags, BA app is now showing 3pm flight next day
11pm - E-mail from BA saying the flight was now cancelled. The e-mail says I can rebook on another flight but that option doesn't appear on the website.
12pm - E-mail saying I've been rebooked onto two AA flights

I am surprised to hear that a plane will choose to divert 2hours due to a lack of fuel but a fun topic of conversation for next time I meet up with my mate who is a BA pilot, I am sure. Good job they then didn't have unexpected issues at DFW as they would then indeed have been a smoking hole in the ground.

Globaliser

If you do have a mate who's a BA pilot, I'm sure that they'll be happy to explain to you all the different elements that make up the total fuel load carried, how alternates are selected, why it can be mandatory to divert to the alternate at a certain fuel level, and how all of that prevents the aircraft making a smoking hole in the ground at (in this case) DEN where there were already existing and known issues at the time that the aircraft was trying to land there.

Raymoland

[QUOTE

I am surprised to hear that a plane will choose to divert 2hours due to a lack of fuel but a fun topic of conversation for next time I meet up with my mate who is a BA pilot, I am sure. Good job they then didn't have unexpected issues at DFW as they would then indeed have been a smoking hole in the ground.[/QUOTE]

Well again, if you don't know anything about a subject, perhaps you should stop questioning the decision making. Talk to your mate he will fill you in on the difficulty associated with diverting to an airport with no handling agreement, refueling agreement, capability to handle the aircraft type or, for that matter, ability to process an international load of passengers.

Just because YOU don't understand why a decision is made, does not make it a bad decision.

corporate-wage-slave

Yeah, but look, the OP had been hassled around by BA, which had not covered itself in communicational glory. I think a few digs at BA are in order, even if a lttlle off beam.

Oxon Flyer

Folks,

A number of FT members have expressed concern about the "aggressive, hostile and unfriendly" attitudes displayed in this thread, particularly towards a brand new FT member.
Please bear this in mind before posting, or liking, any further such posts.

chinc

I absolutely never said it was a bad decision, you completely wrongly inferred that out of words that I did not write, and because you based your reply on an incorrect assumption, everything you wrote was garbage.

If you drop the keyboard warrior persona you have the possibility to make some positive contributions to the forum, otherwise it's just angry words. No need to post any more replies, I won't read them.