airoli

Not sure what your gripe is but the fact that a tiny icy community in Canada's high arctic dealt with an unscheduled influx of 300+ passengers, most of which without the required paperwork for entering Canada, by letting them off the plane in shifts, feeding them and giving them a tour of the city strikes me as very, very hospitable. ^

Have you thought about what would have happened if e.g. an Aeromexico flight from MEX to NRT had to make an unscheduled stop in Fairbanks, AS? Do you think US officials would have cleared out the Holiday Inn to put them up?

Lack

Yes it does! And Iqaluit sounds like an awesome place in it's own right (not only as an alternative to the LX 777 cattle wagon) so I'd be very upset having missed a chance to visit myself.

Except, that tour didn't happen according to the source mentioned up thread.

nolens volans

I agree it would have been far better if something like that had been coordinated. I for one would have been happy to put up a few of the stranded passengers if necessary. Looks to me like the mayor tweeted that without bothering to find out first whether it was logistically feasible (not atypical of the city administration unfortunately).

I seriously doubt that this had anything to do with "taking the moral high ground" or the Trump ban, rather than general organizational incapacity at YFB. Iqaluit is a town of 7000 people with no regularly scheduled international flights. It's not like there are a host of Canadian immigration officials here waiting for international flights to show up by accident so that they can make symbolic demonstrations of the Canadian government's foreign policy attitudes. I believe there are maybe 1 or 2 (part-time?) CBSA officers in town who are on call to deal mostly with private or government aircraft or the occasional small charter flight from Greenland.

Lack

I'm sure there's a lot more people like you out there who would help out and it's a shame that paperwork seemed to have prevented you from showing your hospitality.

I'm sure it had nothing to do with it as well, just find it interesting that this event occurred mere days after the PM goes public saying "We will welcome you". Guess if there was a war in Switzerland maybe the bureaucracy wouldn't stand in the way.
And it's not really an isolated incident either, last year United got a lot of flak for housing their passengers in barracks in Goose Bay (population ~7500, at least they were let of the plane) so the procedure should be in motion in those designated diversion spots.

cesco.g

Sensible approach! Many pax (dressed for So.Cal weather) might have been more comfortable staying aboard. I am sure the two FTers in F might have been just fine!

Most international flights taking an unscheduled/emergency stop in a U.S. airport are not allowed to deboard by U.S. government folks.

Slightly OT: Are engine shut-downs like this one happening often on the B777?
More so on the new B773s LX is flying. Most are in service just for 1 year or less.

greg5

According to the Swiss website, their 773s have GE-90 engines. I wonder if it could be a fan blade failure, like the BA 777 in Vegas awhile back.

N1120A

The LX A333s are quite old and likely would struggle with the range to fly to LAX. It is more likely that some route currently operating with a 777 (LAX or otherwise) will get an A340, or a shorter 777 or A340 route will get an A330 and LAX will get either a 777 or A340.

This is basically the best they could do. YFB isn't even Gander in the local facilities and customs presence it has.

While they are similar, the versions of the GE-90 on this plane and on the BA plane at LAS are pretty different.

Icecat

Actually the average age of an LX A333 is 6 years they are all the enhanced versions, even with this version getting from ZRH to LAX probably wouldn't work... Swiss doesn't have any "shorter" 777's. Apparently there were only 210 passengers on board.

PetzLUX

Looks like the MIA rotation will not be flown with 777 in the next days.

rcs85551

I was among those onboard.

I wrote a trip report on Vielfliegertreff for those who speak German (or those who would like to see pictures): http://www.vielfliegertreff.de/reise...ksausfall.html

Some bullet points:
- Flight took off at around 2pm ZRH time
- We were woken up by an accouncement from the captain at around 8pm ZRH time informing us one of the engines had failed and that we are diverting to the next airport (YFB)
- We had to dump some fuel prior to landing in order to not exceed the maximum landing weight
- Runway was mostly cleared of snow, but not 100% - had to wait for approx. 45 minutes until they had equipment in place to push us back the entire runway since the aircraft had no operating space to turn around on its own
- We reached our parkring stand right upon dawn with an outside temperature of -21°C
- Canada Customs went onboard, so technically they were staffed and could have processed us for entry into Canada
- However, staying on the plane was the most comfortable option, especially in F and C class. Cabin crew did the full second service on the ground which would have been done prior to landing at LAX
- Overnighting in Iqaluit was no real option, the city has a grand total of 4 hotels with 200 beds overall, and half of them are booked all year long by the Canadian Government...
- Kudos to SWISS for arranging swift onward transportation from the middle of nowhere
- JFK was the only possible choice given the amount of time needed to fly to YFB and then back to the U.S. - the "rescue flight" crew was also limited by maximum duty times, and moving baggage + passengers from the B777 to the A330 took a grand total of 4 hours ground time
- Kudos to the ground staff at YFB - they worked all night to get us on our way, with up to -31°C outside
- Kudos to the entire crew who kept a smile on their faces all the time - they did a great job under these circumstances

Amil

Looks like LX41 today is still using the 773

wideman

Thanks for the report (on both sites) and photos, rcs85551.

A propos of not much, I recall well a cheerful evening of drinks in the St James Pub in Montréal quite a few years ago with a couple from Iqaluit, then known as Frobisher Bay. Like my group, they were Bruins fans who had made the trek to see the Bruins and Habs at the Forum, back in that distant past when both teams were worth going way out of your way to see. It was great fun to hear about Frobisher Bay, and now smile-worthy to bring the place back to mind.

HkCaGu

From what I understand you landed at 3 pm EST and took off at 5 am EST.

I know the rescue plane came from JFK, but I wonder why not head to EWR which LX serves and also UA is present. JFK has no UA at all and the only nonstop to LAX would be AA, DL and VX.

ironmanjt

Because that would mean two planes at EWR and none at JFK. I'm going to guess that rebooking pax onto UA wasn't their highest priority.

UncleDude

I am always am concerned about a similar event happening on CX from Chicago that sometimes goes over North East Canada, The Pole and Siberia.

Dont think there are many Diversion Airports on that route.