2 hour flight but have to circle around for 32 hours and then return to the starting point

Passengers endured a terrifying 32-hour flight 'to nowhere', eventually forced to return to their original departure airport without reaching their destination.

The incident occurred in late May when Condor flight DE1234 was flying more than 2,000 km from Zurich, Switzerland to Heraklion in Crete, Greece.

Despite a 30-minute delay, the flight seemed to go smoothly. After a short 2 hours, the plane began its descent to the beautiful Greek island.

Unfortunately, the plane's landing was hampered by strong winds, forcing it to circle for a long time before the pilot decided to divert to Athens and refuel.

This German airline flight took 32 hours to complete a 2-hour journey but still did not reach its destination.

PHOTO: NYP

The plane landed in the Greek capital at 11:24 a.m. local time - three hours after departing from Zurich.

About two and a half hours later, the crew made a second attempt to bring the 137 passengers to Heraklion, but was again turned back.

Weather conditions remained severe. After circling back, they decided to divert to Kos, a nearby Greek island, to refuel, landing at 3:28 p.m. after a 1.5-hour flight.

As the plane was once again dangerously low on fuel, the pilot decided to divert to Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece, where the crew felt it would be better to let the passengers and flight attendants spend the night.

They are believed to have landed at 6am after a flight lasting around an hour - 11 hours from leaving Zurich.

The next day at 9:00 a.m. the crew decided to make a final attempt to reach Crete, but found the same winds as the day before.

Once again, they were forced to divert to Athens, after which the crew decided to stop and fly back to Zurich, arriving 32 hours after their original departure.

"Due to severe weather conditions and strong winds, take-offs and landings at Heraklion airport can only be carried out to a limited extent," said a representative of German airline Condor.

During this futile journey, the plane is said to have landed a total of five different times. Worse still, passengers were only given a glass of water and nothing else during the flight while many passengers were exhausted by the time they approached Heraklion due to strong winds.

Meanwhile, upon arrival in Thessaloniki, passengers are forced to check out of their hotels themselves, although they are entitled to a refund under European aviation guidelines.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/chuyen-bay-2-gio-nhung-phai-long-vong-32-gio-roi-tro-lai-diem-xuat-phat-185250610100229489.htm