Due to Iran’s overnight attack on Israel, plane diversions mean that thousands of passengers are waking up somewhere else which was not their planned destination.
As missiles were fired from Iran to Israel, the airspace over both countries was closed.
The flight path from Europe and North America to the Gulf and south Asia usually flies over the southeast corner of Turkey and then heads over Iran or Iraq.
One flight, Air France AF218 from Paris to Mumbai saw passengers stuck in the air for eight hours only to land back at Paris having gone nowhere.
The plane departed from Charles de Gaulle airport and by the time it reached Iraq, the airspace was closed causing the plane to turn around – it arrived back at Paris CDG 12 hours after it departed.
Some flights did not return to their departure destination but instead were diverted, some planes had much longer journeys than expected and had to stop to refuel.
Passengers were forced to miss their flight connections due to late arrivals.
The two airways most heavily affected were Emirates and Qatar Airways with most overnight journeys diverted.
Kara Godfrey, deputy travel editor of The Sun, was hoping to connect at Dubai for a flight to Perth. She posted on X: “Currently stranded abroad – Emirates flight, headed for Dubai, was diverted to Vienna because of the airspace closure, meaning we missed our connection. The earliest flight? The 7th. Send help please.”
BA’s inbound flight from Sydney and Singapore to Heathrow, one of the longest nonstop routes, landed at Dubai to refuel before continuing to London, where it arrived two hours late.
A spokesperson for British Airways said: “Safety and security are always our highest priorities and we continuously assess and adjust our operations accordingly.”
Passengers will not be eligible for cash compensation as the circumstances were out of the airline’s control.
Anyone affected was eligible to be flown to their destination as soon as possible and provided with a hotel and meals until they could board a plane.