British Airways passengers were flown by mistake to Edinburgh today instead of Dusseldorf due to a paperwork error.
The pilot of Flight BA3271 took off from London City shortly after 7.30am and followed instructions to fly to Scotland instead of the German city – 500 miles away.
Many passengers were said to be none the wiser until the plane came to rest and the pilot revealed thew mistake and asked passengers to put their hands up if they wanted to go to Dusseldorf.
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The British Aerospace 146 plane was refuelled then flown to Dusseldorf, where it touched down more than three-and-a-half hours behind schedule. It is understood flight traffic control saw nothing amiss because the paperwork stated Edinburgh as the destination.
German firm WDL Aviation operated the flight on behalf of BA CityFlyer, which is a subsidiary of British Airways.
An investigation has been launched by the firms to find out why the paperwork error occurred.
A British Airways spokesman said: "We are working with WDL Aviation, who operated this flight on behalf of British Airways, to establish why the incorrect flight plan was filed. We have apologised to customers for this interruption to their journey and will be contacting them all individually."
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WDL Aviation said in a statement: "We are working closely with the authorities to investigate how the obviously unfortunate mix-up of flight schedules could occur.
"At no time has the safety of passengers been compromised. We flew the passengers on the flight with number BA3271 to Dusseldorf after the involuntary stopover in Edinburgh."
