Travellers 'abandoned' in Bermuda after UK flight diversion

Flight from Miami to London Heathrow was diverted because of 'overheating electronics'

Passengers inside the Bermuda airport on Monday after their American Airlines flight from Miami to London had to be diverted. PA

Travellers who landed in Bermuda after their flight from Miami to London had to be diverted because of a possible mechanical problem say they have been “abandoned in the middle of the Atlantic” as they wait 20 hours for another flight.

American Airlines Flight AA38 had to change course about three hours after taking off from Miami International Airport on Monday due to “a possible mechanical issue”, landing on the British island territory in the North Atlantic.

The carrier has apologised for the disruption, but the Boeing 777-300’s 303 passengers have since waited more than 15 hours in LF Wade International Airport in St George’s.

They are scheduled to board a replacement flight to London Heathrow at 8pm local time, almost 20 hours after landing there.

The flight was unable to continue because of the US Federal Aviation Administration's crew rest requirements after maintenance teams had inspected the aircraft.

And passengers are not allowed to leave the airport because of Bermuda’s Covid-19 requirements.

Passengers said it took almost 10 hours for them to be given food at the airport, and there were only eight toilets available and no showers.

Jonathan Lo, 35, musical director at Northern Ballet, was on the flight on his way home to the UK with his fiancee Laura Day, 29, the principal character artist at the Birmingham Royal Ballet.

On the final leg of an “epic trip” in which Mr Lo proposed in Cape Town, South Africa, the couple — who live between London and Birmingham — were “dozing off” when the captain told passengers there was “an indication of overheating electronics”.

“A little later on it was backed up by a further announcement to say that, actually, they could smell smoke in the aircraft cockpit,” he told PA.

Decades of flight: Heathrow through the years - in pictures

Heathrow Airport in London, the UK's busiest, has been a travel hub for decades. Here The National takes a look back at Heathrow through the years. All photos: Getty Images

An Airco De Havilland biplane of the British airline, Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited, about to leave on the company’s inaugural flight from Hounslow Heath Aerodrome, later known as Heathrow, to Le Bourget, Paris, in August 1919

Waterlogged runways at London Airport - Heathrow's original name - one week before it became Britain's main aerial gateway to the US in 1946

The new BOAC maintenance headquarters at London Airport circa 1955

The air traffic control room at the airport's new terminal in 1955

US film star Marilyn Monroe with her husband, playwright Arthur Miller, after arriving at the airport in July 1956

An aerial view showing the runways in 1958

The arrivals and departures board in 1960

A new airport gift shop, selling items by Chanel, Wedgwood and Pringle of Scotland, in 1961

The Queen's Building and the No. 1 Building Europa at Heathrow in 1965

The Beatles leave Heathrow for Salzburg in Austria, to resume filming of the movie Help!, in 1965

Passenger terminal gates at Heathrow in 1966

Keith Granville, managing director of BOAC, holding up a model of the Boeing 747 jet, with the new aircraft hangars under construction in the background, at Heathrow in 1969

An aerial view of Heathrow in 1970

Passengers boarding the first BOAC Jumbo Jet 747 used for a commercial flight, from London Heathrow to New York, in 1971

Passengers going through the departure lounge at Heathrow in 1973

Concorde takes off from Heathrow on her first commercial flight for British Airways in 1976

Men at work finalising the Heathrow Central underground station before its opening in 1977

Queen Elizabeth II passing though the Tube gates at Heathrow Central station on its opening in 1977

An aerial view of Heathrow in 1978

Passengers waiting near a departures board in 1979

Holidaymakers waiting in the departure lounge at Terminal 3 of Heathrow in 1981

British Airways employees protesting at Heathrow in 1984

Passengers and staff observe a silence in Heathrow's Terminal One to mark the beginning of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997

Rower Steve Redgrave at Heathrow with daughters Sophie and Natalie and son Zak after returning from the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games with his gold medal

Spectators watch the last Concorde land at Heathrow in 2003

Fans surround the coach carrying the England rugby team at Heathrow, as they arrived from Sydney after winning the World Cup in 2003

Heathrow's Terminal 2 in 2004

Passengers queue to check in at Terminal 1 of Heathrow Airport during the Christmas 2006 and New Year period

Passengers wait at Terminal 1 on August 10, 2006, after airport security was raised to critical when a terrorist plot to blow up planes in mid-flight from the UK to the US was disrupted by police

Planes queueing to take off at Heathrow in 2007

The new Terminal 5 at Heathrow in 2008

Aircraft at Heathrow Airport in front of the London skyline in 2016

Members of Team GB arrive from Rio de Janeiro at Heathrow, after returning from the 2016 Olympics, which saw Great Britain's strongest performance at the Games in over a century

A composite photo shows planes taking off from Heathrow in November 2016. Forty-two planes were captured between 10.17am and 11.17am and a montage was created from those single images

Items are arranged during an auction preview at Heathrow in 2018. The contents of Terminal 1, which closed in 2015, were being sold

An airline passenger wearing a face mask pushes her bags through Heathrow's Terminal 5 during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020

British Airways employees welcome Olympians returning from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021

Travellers wait in a long queue to pass through the security check in 2022

Mr Lo said when they landed in Bermuda there was “quite a dramatic scene” with fire engines following the aircraft, but he understood this to be standard procedure and a precaution.

“All was going quite smoothly until we got into the terminal,” he said.

Mr Lo said passengers waited for more than three hours until their first update on the situation.

At 5am it became clear that they would be sleeping at the airport — when airport staff gave them blankets and pillows taken from the aircraft.

Mr Lo said “tempers rose” at times among the travellers, who included people travelling for work and many British families returning after the bank holiday weekend.

The hundreds stranded in the hall were not given food until airport staff offered breakfast at 12.30pm local time.

“That’s a whole whopping 10 hours after people have landed with children and were really hungry,” Mr Lo said.

“[We feel] abandoned by the airline, really, literally in the middle of the Atlantic.

“When we landed, we didn’t know how long it was going to be … had we been kept updated regularly, we would have been able to make plans and I’m sure the airport staff would have been able to make plans quicker.

“I was speaking to a gentleman earlier, who basically said, ‘Well I’m going to miss my appointment in London anyway, can I just turn around and go back?'”

Mr Lo said he would miss his ballet company’s first day of rehearsals on Tuesday, while Ms Day was supposed to start her season teaching the Birmingham Royal Ballet, for which she has been practising while stranded in the airport.

He had also planned to meet Ms Day’s parents in London to celebrate their engagement.

“We only have the window of the next four days, because of our travelling schedule … when we actually get to share the news,” Mr Lo said.

“They know of course, but to actually get to speak to them properly about plans and everything before they go to Australia – it’s all a bit frustrating.”

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Danny Wells, 32, an IT engineer from Hertfordshire, was on his way back from a holiday in Miami when he was caught in the disruption.

“We have had to take an extra two days' holiday from work as we were due to work this morning but will not be able to work tomorrow either,” Mr Wells told PA.

“We have family house sitting and both have now had to take the day off tomorrow as well as they are looking after animals.

“[There are] rows of people asleep on the floor, the lights have been on almost all night. Everyone is freezing because the air con is on so they had to get everyone’s blanket from the plane.”

American Airlines said: “American Airlines flight 38, from Miami to London, diverted to Bermuda this morning after a possible mechanical issue.

“We never want to disrupt our customers’ travel plans, and we apologise for the trouble this has caused.”