British Airways’ jet was damaged by ice falling from a plane 1,000 feet above it. It caused severe discomfort for the passengers and prevented them from returning to their home country for Christmas.
When the ice landed on the Boeing 777’s windshield, it was 35,000ft above London Gatwick when it flew from there to Costa Rica.
The plane was able to land in San Jose. However, 200 passengers were due back home by Christmas Eve because of the need for repairs.
Although their flight was scheduled for the following night, they couldn’t get a diverted plane from Jamaica so had to stay at the airport until the morning. Finally they left the country on Boxing Day, fifty hours ahead of schedule.
At 35,000ft, the Boeing 747 was on its way from London Gatwick and Costa Rica when the ice cracked the windshield.
The repeated delays that saw passengers stuck in San Jose for over 50 hours left them stranded at airport made it difficult for them to be furious.
BA2236 flight was scheduled to depart San Jose on December 23 for Gatwick. Passengers were told initially to be prepared to wait 90 minutes.
The plane needed specialist repair because the windscreen was cracked.
Geir and Jo Olafsson were on honeymoon in Costa Rica.
The Independent reported that Dr Mitchell said: “My husband, who is part-Icelandic, and his family living in Edinburgh celebrate Christmas Day on December 24.
“We tried desperately to find a flight connecting at this airport that would take us to the destination in enough time for him to be with his family on Christmas.”
“The BA app said something vaguely about the delay to the following day. The flight time, however, showed only a 4-hour delay. It was not clear if the flight delay occurred via email, or by message. We hoped that it was a technical glitch.
“We dropped off our car at the airport and drove to it, hoping that this wasn’t true.”
For four hours, the passengers waited in a line at the airport to join dozens more. Eventually they were informed that it needed repairs before the plane could be flown.
‘At this point we were devastated – realising we would miss Christmas with both of our families,’ Dr Mitchell told The Independent.
Jo Mitchell, Geir Olafsson and Geir Ulafsson went on honeymoon to Costa Rica. They were planning to return via Gatwick from Edinburgh just in time to celebrate Christmas.
“People were waiting in line, asking staff members for alternatives, many crying, angry or even just plain sad.” Many people wept as they found out that Christmas was coming up for them.
Passengers were driven to a Denny’s restaurant for dinner, and then returned to the airport to board a flight to depart at 10.30pm on Christmas Eve.
But they found that attempts to divert an aircraft from Jamaica for them had failed as the crew was at the end their working hours.
Dr Mitchell stated that many people were “running around crying” because they heard the worst news about Christmas Day.
After returning to their original departure time of 6.50pm on Christmas Day, the passengers encountered another delay as a result of a mix-up in passenger numbers.
A passenger called Alice Hill tweeted: ‘The BA2236 from San José saga continues, 1h30 sat on the Tarmac as the ground staff failed to count who exactly is on the flight. The ‘BA cabin crew were excellent and equally frustrated as us. Merry Christmas.
BA2236 eventually left London 50 hours late on Christmas Day at 8.35 pm and reached London soon after midnight on Boxing Day.
BA offered a sincere apology to the passengers, and blamed the long delay for the cracked windscreen.
According to a spokesperson, “We apologize to all those on board this flight for their disappointment.”
“We won’t fly an airplane unless it is absolutely safe. Unfortunately, the engineers could not clear the aircraft to fly.
“Since that time, our teams have worked behind-the scenes to make sure an aircraft is available at all times to transport customers to London.
“We are grateful for the understanding and patience of both our customers as well as our engineers and crew members who did everything they could to help.
The windshields for the cockpit are approximately two inches thick and made of layers of clear plastics and mineral glass laminated together.
These windshields can withstand both bird strikes and ice from the atmosphere.
They can be used in place of bullet proof glass.