Plane Passengers Stuck on 32 Hour Trip to Nowhere

A routine trip to paradise turned into a dizzying, vomit-filled odyssey for 137 passengers aboard Condor flight DE1234, who endured a brutal 32-hour journey that ultimately went absolutely nowhere.

The doomed adventure began on May 24 when the flight left Zurich for the Greek island of Crete. What was supposed to be a short two-hour hop to Heraklion spiraled into an exhausting travel horror show—complete with five separate landings, multiple diversions, strong winds, and barely a sip of water to ease the suffering.

Initially delayed by just 30 minutes, things seemed to be going smoothly until the plane reached Heraklion. Fierce winds made landing impossible, so the crew rerouted to Athens to refuel. That was just the beginning.

Roughly two and a half hours later, the Airbus A321 made a second attempt to land in Crete. No luck. Still battling the same vicious winds, the crew rerouted again—this time to Kos for more fuel. Once airborne again, the plane headed to Thessaloniki, where both the exhausted passengers and crew finally got to spend the night… in hotels they had to book themselves.

By now, 11 hours had passed since the flight originally left Switzerland.

The next morning, spirits were high for a third shot at paradise—but Heraklion still wasn’t cooperating. After yet another tense holding pattern, the plane was forced to retreat once more to Athens. This time, Condor had enough. The crew threw in the towel and turned the aircraft around for a final flight back to Zurich, touching down 32 hours after the original departure.

Throughout the ordeal, passengers were reportedly offered only a glass of water—no food, no comfort, and no clarity. Some became sick from the violent turbulence, especially during the repeated attempts to land at wind-battered Heraklion.

Condor later blamed “extreme weather conditions and strong winds” for the relentless diversions and failed landings, saying conditions at the Greek airport made safe arrivals nearly impossible.

To add insult to injury, while flyers are entitled to reimbursement under EU flight compensation rules, they were left to pay for their own overnight lodging in Thessaloniki.

Unfortunately, this isn’t a one-off. Just last year, British Airways passengers were stuck on a long-haul flight across the Atlantic—only for the plane to U-turn midway due to a technical fault.