AI 173 to SFO diverts to Magadan (GDX)
Jun 7, 2023, 7:41 am
#1
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AI 173 to SFO diverts to Magadan (GDX)
AI flies through Russian airspace, the last country you should be anywhere close if you are a US citizen.
If you think you are just going to be transiting at 35,000': https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/...o-18138373.php
If you think you are just going to be transiting at 35,000': https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/...o-18138373.php
When an Air India flight from Delhi to San Francisco had to make an emergency landing in Russia after experiencing engine problems, one East Bay man found himself stranded for hours, sleeping alongside hundreds of other passengers on the floor of a local school turned into a makeshift shelter.
“Everything is calm here,” Prajwal Chaulagain of Hayward wrote in a series of text messages to The Chronicle, describing conditions after the flight with at least 276 passengers and 16 crew members was diverted to the Sokol Airport in Magadan Oblast, a mountainous city in the far east region of Russia.
“Everything is calm here,” Prajwal Chaulagain of Hayward wrote in a series of text messages to The Chronicle, describing conditions after the flight with at least 276 passengers and 16 crew members was diverted to the Sokol Airport in Magadan Oblast, a mountainous city in the far east region of Russia.
Last edited by malgudi; Jun 7, 2023 at 7:52 am
Jun 7, 2023, 11:42 am
#2
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Yup - as US citizen there is no way I would overfly Russia, China or Iran right now. Ukraine and Belarus are off limits as well.
Jun 7, 2023, 2:57 pm
#3
Join Date: Sep 2020
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Avoiding flying over China is a just silly. US carriers fly to & from China, not to mention the thousands of US citizens who routinely visit, live in, and work in China. As well as the thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of Chinese who visit, live-in, work in, and study in the US.
Jun 7, 2023, 5:32 pm
#4
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The rescue flight, AI173 is airborne now and headed eastward for SFO: https://www.flightradar24.com/AIC173D/309f83be
Jun 7, 2023, 7:50 pm
#5
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More coverage: https://meduza.io/en/news/2023/06/07...esume-thursday
Jun 8, 2023, 3:04 am
#6
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The entire Ukrainian airspace is closed for commercial traffic since February 2022. The eastern Ukraine was closed in 2013/14 after the MH 777 was shot down.
Jun 8, 2023, 3:32 am
#7
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An AI flight over Russia connecting DEL/BOM with SFO isn’t for me, but that’s not because of concerns about being diverted to land in them.
Jun 8, 2023, 5:27 am
#8
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Glad this worked out without too much of a pain. I would go out of my way to avoid flying over war zones and I’d hesitate flying over countries where I, as a US citizen, could potentially have trouble were there to be an emergency landing. Russia is easily one of them.
Jun 8, 2023, 7:45 am
#9
Join Date: Jul 2019
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According to Expedia and Orbitz, there are 15 hotels near the airport in that Russian Town where the flight was diverted. Assuming 60% occupancy there were still lots of rooms for the diverted flight passengers!
Last edited by Narrow Seat; Jun 8, 2023 at 1:02 pm
Jun 8, 2023, 2:50 pm
#10
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This is a rare event and AI has handled it pretty well. The passengers are now back in SFO. Russia is not going bother AI passengers and also of ME3 which routinely fly over Russia for flights especially to Pacific coast cities, IAH and DFW. I will not hesitate to fly AI at all, when compared to UA or AA or even BA, LH or AF or KL, they have better service, yes the overall product still needs improvement, but they are getting there.
Jun 9, 2023, 4:24 pm
#11
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I have seen similar scenarios in case of irrops in Europe. We had LH fights BLR-FRA-SFO and BLR-SFO got delayed causing everyone to be stranded at FRA for about 20 hours. Anyone who had passport which allowed Visa free entry to Germany or Schengen visa were provided hotels and others (mostly Indian citizens) were literally provided blankets to sleep at the airport (they had a few portable beds setup in one corner at the terminal but not enough for everyone). Food was provided as boarding card credit (I think 20€ / 15€ per meal for J/Y)
I had Schengen visa so I went out but it must have been terrible for Indians stuck at the airport (especially seniors & children)
The same way, I guess Russian immigration won't clear the passengers to enter Russia so couldn't be sent to hotels)
Jun 10, 2023, 4:03 pm
#13
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This is one of the main reasons why I would never connect in a country which I cannot enter in the event one was to get stranded there during transit.
Jun 12, 2023, 7:38 am
#15
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Compared to the experiences that Indians (Indian citizens with no Schengen visas) in Schengen countries whenever there was an overnight stop required due to delays, the Russian experience appears to have been better. Considering that Magadan is an isolated town in Siberia, AI and Russian authorities have handled this quite well.