More than 200 Aberdeen-bound passengers were left stranded in Liverpool after midnight after a flight from Heathrow to the Granite City was diverted due to fog.
The British Airways service took off just before 9.30pm on Sunday, and was due to land in Aberdeen just before 11pm.
However, when it was approaching the north-east airport, the flight instead ascended, as the captain informed passengers that fog was preventing landing.
After trying various closer airports for somewhere to land, the plane was instead diverted to Liverpool — 260 miles away as the crow flies.
The aircraft landed there just after midnight, and passengers were eventually disembarked at about 1.30am — without any travel or accommodation sorted out for them.
Ewan Edwards, a marine ecologist who was on board the flight with his wife and two young children, said he was told by staff on board the plane that there were 204 passengers on board.
Engines revved up
He told the Press & Journal: “We came within sight of the ground on approach to Aberdeen, and then the engines revved up and we accelerated away.
“The captain came on the radio to tell us the fog was too bad to safely land, and so we were going to return to Heathrow.
“But then he came back on and said they tried Glasgow, Edinburgh, Prestwick and Manchester - and the only one that had a landing slot for us at that time was Liverpool.
“So that caused a bit of anguish with the passengers.
“The air crew was brilliant throughout - they were definitely trying to find a solution for us.”
Mr Edwards said that, after landing, passengers were told they were potentially going to still return to Heathrow.
Change of plan
But, by 1am, they were informed that there had been a change of plan again, and they were going to disembark in Liverpool.
Mr Edwards said those on board were told that no hotel accommodation had been secured, so passengers were left to “fend for themselves” to get somewhere to stay overnight, as well as transportation.
He added: “With a flight of that size, 200-pluspassengers, in the middle of a Sunday night, it’s going to be quite difficult for individuals to arrange taxis and hotels around Liverpool. It was a bit of a mess.”
Although Mr Edwards and his family managed to sort out a place to stay overnight, their hold luggage was kept on board the flight.
Passengers were only able to take their hand luggage off the plane with them. They were due to return to Aberdeen on a flight yesterday afternoon.
A spokeswoman for British Airways said: “We apologised to customers for the delay to this service due to adverse weather conditions in Aberdeen.”