Wrong plane: The bizarre reason this American Airlines flight had to change its destination mid-air
Flying internationally can be a long slog but imagine arriving at the wrong airport and having to finish your trip with a 2-hour bus ride.
Nothing like setting off on a holiday, flying away on a big jet plane to a far-off destination. While long haul flights can be grueling, at least you’ll be able to relax at the end of the line, or even get some sightseeing in to fight off the jetlag if you booked your flight to an airport near where you will be staying.
However, that wasn’t the case for those on American Airlines Flight 780 that departed from Philadelphia Monday evening. Crew and passengers were supposed to land in Naples, Italy but shortly before the plane was going to arrive at its destination, just 70 miles out, it was denied permission to land and was rerouted to Rome.
American Airlines sends wrong plane to Naples: “We apologize to them for this disruption”
On the bright side of things, Flight 780 arrived 15 minutes ahead of schedule. Unfortunately, at the wrong airport, landing at Rome Fiumicino Airport around 9:45.
Passengers were put on a bus to take them to Naples International Airport, roughly 145 miles away and a two-hour trip by road. American Airlines told Business Insider that the carrier apologizes to those onboard Flight 780 “for this disruption to their journey.”
The reason that the American Airlines flight was not allowed to land at Naples is that the plane was too big. Business Insider notes that normally the airline has a Boeing 787-8 cover flights to Naples. However, this Flight 780 was handled by a Boeing 787-9.
While the two planes are variants of the Dreamliner and have a similar wingspan, the 787-9 is 20 feet longer than the 787-8 making it too big to land at the Category 8 RFFS (rescue-and-firefighting services) Naples International Airport.
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