An Iberia flight last week, blocked from landing at its destination, went on a tour of Europe that, had it been a KLM flight, would have provoked headlines about a Flying Dutchman.
A routine flight from Madrid to Paris Orly had to divert because of heavy snow and backed-up runways at Orly; the logical first choice was Paris CDG, but no landing slot could be found there, either. More southerly airports such as Lyon and Marseille were already getting diversions including long-haul flights from the Caribbean.
So, Iberia Flight 569 headed off for London Heathrow, a choice made in part because British Air and Vueling, both sister companies of Iberia, have bases there and could help get the passengers back to Paris… eventually. But after 45 minutes in a Heathrow holding pattern and short of fuel, the plane ended up at Luton, miles north of the capital, and 250 miles—by air—from Paris.
To top it off most of the passengers, who had not planned on visiting England, did not have British Electronic Travel Authorization, or ETA, and were therefore not able to leave the airport while waiting for the plane to be resupplied and fly them to… somewhere.
