frenchpilot From France, joined Aug 2004, 83 posts, RR: 1 Posted (9 months 1 week 3 days 20 hours ago) and read 25539 times:
Passengers on a flight from Paris to Beirut diverted to Damascus only to find out that the credit card company was not accepted.
Passengers contribution was asked to refuel and leave to the final destination.
pesit4a From Ireland, joined Jul 2012, 119 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (9 months 1 week 3 days 20 hours ago) and read 25437 times:
Quoting frenchpilot (Thread starter): Passengers on a flight from Paris to Beirut diverted to Damascus only to find out that the credit card company was not accepted.
Passengers contribution was asked to refuel and leave to the final destination.
Hey.. it happens!
I've handled diversions in my time where fuellers refused to provide fuel because of administrative errors between their sales department and dispatch, or where the major credit card was refused.
In one case, in a diversion to Madrid - we had an aircraft full of pax who had been delayed due technical problems on their flight from Portugal by 12 hours. When the flight eventually departed, it had to divert to Madrid due to a sick passenger on board. On uplifting more fuel to continue to Ireland, the fuel company refused the company Mastercard! They only accepted Visa...
It's a daft situation when you are dealing with major international airlines who are obviously "good for the money".
francoflier From France, joined Oct 2001, 3196 posts, RR: 10 Reply 3, posted (9 months 1 week 3 days 19 hours ago) and read 25296 times:
This whole affair is either completely laughable or pathetic, possibly both...
So AF decides to divert this Beirut bound flight away from its destination, due to civil disturbances in the city, and, naturally, they decide to send them to Damascus, SYRIA?
Deciding to Gallically ignore the irony of diverting a plane from an airport subject to 'minor' disturbances to one dead in the middle of a country in the midst of a full blown civil war, one with which diplomatic tensions are stretching sympathies thin, they further add insult by not even bothering to check whether appropriate ground servicing would be available when they get there?
I think we have a perfect plot for the next Airplane! movie...
'But captain, surely we have fuel to fly to Amman instead? NO, we don't. And don't call me Shirley!"
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit posting...
Quokkas From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 6, posted (9 months 1 week 3 days 17 hours ago) and read 24363 times:
Quoting pesit4a (Reply 2): It's a daft situation when you are dealing with major international airlines who are obviously "good for the money".
But politics comes into play. France demanded Assad step down and the EU has imposed sanctions on Syria. If Syria had accepted credit card, would the payment been honoured? Tricky situations arise when politics interferes with commerce. Impose sanctions that effectively rip up bilateral agreements and all sorts of silly things can happen.
pesit4a From Ireland, joined Jul 2012, 119 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (9 months 1 week 3 days 16 hours ago) and read 24033 times:
Quoting Quokkas (Reply 6): But politics comes into play. France demanded Assad step down and the EU has imposed sanctions on Syria. If Syria had accepted credit card, would the payment been honoured? Tricky situations arise when politics interferes with commerce. Impose sanctions that effectively rip up bilateral agreements and all sorts of silly things can happen.
I understand that in this particular case, but I was being more general concerning situations where fuel companies refuse credit to reputable airlines if they divert and do not have an agreement in place.
CPDC10-30 From United Kingdom, joined Feb 2000, 4759 posts, RR: 26 Reply 8, posted (9 months 1 week 3 days 15 hours ago) and read 23785 times:
Bizarre. Why on earth would they not divert somewhere in Cyprus in the first place? The story says they tried AMM but this was unsuccessful for some unknown reason.
Do we know any more background here (i.e. was the AF flight holding above BEY for a long time)?
falstaff From United States of America, joined Jun 2006, 5673 posts, RR: 29 Reply 10, posted (9 months 1 week 3 days 13 hours ago) and read 21346 times:
DocLightning From United States of America, joined Nov 2005, 16824 posts, RR: 57 Reply 11, posted (9 months 1 week 3 days 13 hours ago) and read 20589 times:
Quoting falkerker (Reply 1): So, there was civil unrest in Beirut so they were sent to Syria??
"Captain, the pan is too hot."
"OK, let's land in the fire!"
Quoting falstaff (Reply 10): What kind of card do they use? They should use Visa, they take that everywhere...
One tank of fuel for an aircraft, $25,000
Landing fees for an airport, $2,500
Landing in the middle of a civil war, Priceless.
There are some things money can't buy
For every thing else, there's MasterCard.
SOBHI51 From Saudi Arabia, joined Jun 2003, 3022 posts, RR: 17 Reply 12, posted (9 months 1 week 3 days 13 hours ago) and read 20511 times:
There is something strange in this story.
The plane should have enough fuel to hold for a while near the destination ie BEY then enough fuel to divert to a nearby airport Larnaca is the nearest one to come in mind. To fly to DAM you need a special authorization then you need to fly North near Latakkia , East to near Iraqi border, South to the Jordanian border then North again to DAM, how the AF pilot could do all that and not fly direct to Larnaca is beyond me.
I am against any terrorist acts committed under the name of Islam
DocLightning From United States of America, joined Nov 2005, 16824 posts, RR: 57 Reply 13, posted (9 months 1 week 3 days 12 hours ago) and read 19873 times:
Quoting SOBHI51 (Reply 12):
There is something strange in this story.
The plane should have enough fuel to hold for a while near the destination ie BEY then enough fuel to divert to a nearby airport Larnaca is the nearest one to come in mind. To fly to DAM you need a special authorization then you need to fly North near Latakkia , East to near Iraqi border, South to the Jordanian border then North again to DAM, how the AF pilot could do all that and not fly direct to Larnaca is beyond me.
BLRAviation From India, joined Feb 2009, 194 posts, RR: 14 Reply 15, posted (9 months 1 week 3 days 11 hours ago) and read 19116 times:
Quoting DocLightning (Reply 11): One tank of fuel for an aircraft, $25,000
Landing fees for an airport, $2,500
Landing in the middle of a civil war, Priceless.
There are some things money can't buy
For every thing else, there's MasterCard.
ROFLMAO. If you are not in advertising, you must consider a career move. You are good.
I flew from Beirut to Damascus in 2001 with Yugoslav Airlines and we flew north up the coast, then headed east and then south back down through Syria to Damascus. There is a very high mountain range that runs along the coast of Lebanon and I believe that this is why aircraft have to climb alongside the coast before crossing the mountains .
If memory serves me correctly we turned east over Byblos
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