BA Flight Arrives in Wrong City

The mistake was with the paperwork filed with ATC. Once they took-off the pilot had no choice but follow ATC's instructions.

A pilot can request a change to a flight plan at any time even in flight. The pilot received a flight plan for Edinburgh. With commerical airlines, the pilots don't come up with their flight plans, the airline's dispatch department does. Every airliner has a licensed dispatcher who plans the flights and watches it. The pilot will of course review it.

The flight was operated by Cityfler and not BA.

PIlots get a monthly schedule but sometimes changes are made on the day of flights. I have been on flights where the pilots are pulled from another flight to fly mine when the arriving flight with my pilots was late. My guess is the wrong flight plan was sent to pilots--to Edinburgh instead of Dusseldorf. It used to be that the pilots had to go into the terminal to print out their flight plans. They might see a discrepancy at the gate. Now it's done electronically either directly into the plane or onto the tablets the pilots use. The gate agents wouldn't be aware of the change only the pilots and FA's.

I was on a TAN SASA flight to TGU many years ago. The flight was IAH to SPS to TGU. It left Houston so late that they skipped SPS and went directly to TGU because they didnt like to land at TGU after dark. (THANK G-D) Then they flew on to SPS.

The announcement of "welcome to" doesn't come until the end of the flight.

Someone definitely dropped the ball on this one. I've flown Cityflyer but don't remember what was said.

"Welcome aboard! We have a nice surprise for you! We decided you would all enjoy Edinburgh more than Dusseldorf, so Scotland, here we come!"

The flight was operated by Cityfler and not BA.

Even more removed - it was operated by WDL Aviation under lease.

True.....I guess you really do get what you pay for. BA outsourced to Cityflyer who outsourced to WDL Aviation.

The Independent has come up with the reasons why this flight happened:

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/ba-british-airways-passengers-london-city-wrong-airport-edinburgh-dusseldorf-a8839136.html

To quote one of the great thinkers of our time......Homer Simpson...…"DOH!"

I'm sorry. This story just cracks me up. What a story they all have...and hopefully a good giggle. I'm hoping the jokes were flying in that cabin for the rest of the trip.