British Airways passengers left ‘to wander the terminal’ after flight unexpectedly diverts to Barcelona

‘What a predictable shambles!’

British Airways flight was forced to land in Barcelona (Stuart Bailey / British Airways)

Passengers offloaded from a diverted British Airways flight claim they were left to “wander the terminal” with no assistance from the airline.

BA flight BA2716 from London Gatwick to Malaga was forced to divert to Barcelona, around 480 miles away, on Thursday due to a technical issue, but travellers took to social media to complain about the complete lack of assistance.

Alicia Botha tweeted: “BA2716 diverted to Barcelona and not a single BA representative to assist. We wander the terminal on our own initiative. Just. Wow.”

She posted the tweet alongside a picture of fellow passengers standing around checking their phones.

Another passenger added: “Shame on you British Airways... flight BA2716 to Malaga diverted mid flight to Barcelona... crew didn’t seem to care too much about what happened to us... bus to terminal in Barcelona... nobody to meet us... chaos! Well done!”

Meanwhile, Kris Harm tweeted that passengers had been “sent on buses to terminal building. No BA staff here and no one knows what to do.”

Passengers waiting for the plane to arrive in Malaga to pick up the return flight to Gatwick were also seemingly left in the dark.

“Who do we call regarding a missing plane,” tweeted Lee Bowra. “My mum is sitting in Malaga airport waiting for flight BA2716 which has been diverted but we can’t get any other information. Please can someone help us to find out what’s going on?”

According to FlightRadar24, the outbound flight took off from the UK at 4.12pm and landed in Barcelona an hour and 53 minutes later.

A British Airways spokesperson said: “As a precaution following a minor technical issue, the flight diverted and landed normally.

“Our customers are now on their way to Malaga. We’re sorry for the delay to their travel plans.”