While it's common to hear of flight delays being attributed to bad weather, lack of staff, and mechanical problems with aircraft, it's pretty rare to hear of a flight delay caused by a faulty curtain that won't close properly. Yes, you certainly read that right, because that was what happened to passengers onboard a British Airways flight from Seville to London on November 14th.

An already delayed flight

The delayed flight in question was British Airways flight BA 2799, a regularly scheduled commercial flight from Seville Airport to London Gatwick Airport, and is usually operated by either the Airbus A319 or the A320, both aircraft offering two cabin classes of Business and Economy.

On November 14th, a 17-year-old Airbus A319 registered G-DBCF operated both the inbound and outbound segments of the flight. Unfortunately, the delayed string of events had started before BA 2799, as the inbound BA 2798 was already encountering problems due to poor weather conditions.

Heavy fog was present in Seville, causing BA 2798 to divert to nearby Jerez Airport until visibility improved. Eventually, the delayed flight was able to land at Seville Airport at approximately 12:30, which was more than an hour after the outbound BA 2799 was scheduled to take off. A spokesperson for British Airways confirmed the delay, saying:

"We would like to apologize to customers for the delay to their flight which was caused by the aircraft diverting to an alternative airport due to poor visibility."

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More problems ensued

With the delayed arrival already causing frustrations among passengers anxious about getting to Gatwick Airport, BA 2799 needed to depart as soon as possible, except it could not. Although the inbound flight landed at around 12:30, BA 2799 only departed Seville more than two hours later.

This time, the delay was caused by a faulty curtain that could not close to separate the Business and Economy class passengers. The fault with the curtain triggered a safety issue as part of the rail structure was loose and could have posed a significant danger if the aircraft had taken off without securing it. The same spokesperson highlighted:

"A separate technical defect was identified which needed rectifying before the aircraft was deemed safe to depart from Seville."

Although it was a safety issue for British Airways, it was quite a ridiculous reason in the eyes of the already frustrated passengers. Many passengers reported how wheelchair users had to be constantly taken on and off the aircraft as the delay dragged on, while other passengers complained about the lack of communication from the airport or airline staff about updates on the delay as they were not allowed to board and had limited food options at the gate.

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Finally headed back to Gatwick

Several hours behind schedule, the curtain rail structure was finally secured. No further problems were encountered as the aircraft and weather were fine, allowing BA 2799 to depart from Seville at approximately 14:45 and arrive back in London Gatwick at around 16:08, much to the eventual delight of several passengers.

Source: Dailymail

• 

  British Airways

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  BA/BAW

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  London Heathrow Airport, London Gatwick Airport

  Year Founded:

  1974

  Alliance:

  oneworld

  Airline Group:

  IAG

  CEO:

  Sean Doyle

  Country:

  United Kingdom

• 

  London Gatwick Airport

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  LGW/EGKK

  Country:

  United Kingdom

  CEO:

  Stewart Wingate

  Passenger Count :

  6,260,000 (2021)

  Runways :

  08L/26R - 2,565m (8,415ft) | 08R/26L - 3,316m (10,879ft)

  Terminals:

  North Terminal | South Terminal