It was a nine-hour flight to nowhere.
Passengers aboard a transoceanic flight were likely bedraggled after flying for hours across the Atlantic Ocean — only for the plane to turn around and return halfway through their trip.
The Sisyphean mishap occurred Monday morning while British Airways Flight 195 was traveling from London to Houston — a trip slated to take 10 hours and 20 minutes, One Mile at a Time reported.
The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner had been in the air for around five hours and was approaching the coast of Newfoundland when the aircraft was forced to divert due to a “minor technical issue,” Business Insider reported.
As a result, the aircraft — which seats nearly 300 passengers — had to fly back across the ocean to London.
By the end of the nine-hour sky odyssey, the plane had flown 4,833 miles and traversed the Atlantic twice — but was no closer to its intended destination, Fox News reported.
While the airline didn’t specify the issue, the jet reportedly had a problem with the engine that didn’t impact this particular flight but could have posed a risk to future trips, per One Mile at a Time.
“It landed safely and customers disembarked as normal,” a British Airways representative told Fox News. “We’ve apologized to our customers for the disruption to their journey.”
The airline has since rebooked the beleaguered flyers onto the next available flights, plus provided lodging and instructions on how to claim other expenses.
It’s unclear why the aircraft had to fly all the way back to London to carry out repairs, although Heathrow Airport does have a BA maintenance facility.
Meanwhile, the experts at flight blog One Mile at a Time theorized that the decision could’ve had to do with the engine’s manufacturer, Rolls Royce.
“Due to British Airways’ contract with Rolls Royce (the engine manufacturer), it was reportedly advantageous for the jet to return to Heathrow, and Rolls Royce also probably had input here,” they wrote.
