British Airways faces a massive compensation bill after a 747 flight to Hong Kong with nearly 300 passengers on board was forced to return to Heathrow last night when pilots were unable to retract the landing gear.
The 298 passengers onboard flight BA0025 were offered overnight accommodation by BA and the flight, which had originally left Heathrow at 18:20 yesterday, was rescheduled for today.
A BA spokesman apologised to passengers for the delay and said the cause of the fault had not been established, but if it is found to have been a technical fault for which the airline was responsible passengers could claim a total of €178,800 in compensation.
A spokesman for air traffic company NATS told the BBC that the flight crew relayed the plane had a problem retracting its undercarriage and time was spent in the air to make sure the aircraft was a safe weight for landing.
He said such redirections were "not uncommon".
BA said the plane had landed safely, passengers disembarked as normal, and they were given accommodation and refreshments.
The airline did not comment on the possible compensation pay-out but it asked customers to contact it directly to submit a claim.
