Dusseldorf/London - Passengers on a British Airways (BA) plane bound for Dusseldorf from London ended up in the Scottish capital on Monday due to a scheduling snafu.
Those on board only realized that the plane had flown hundreds of kilometres in the wrong direction after the crew said "Welcome to Edinburgh," according to a BBC report.
The German leasing and charter flight company WDL, which operated the flight on behalf of BA, confirmed the mishap.
BA said it is working with WDL to establish how the timetabling error could have been made, and stressed that passengers' security was never at risk.
"We have apologised to customers for this interruption to their journey and will be contacting them all individually," BA said in a statement.
The plane took off from Edinburgh and flew to Dusseldorf, arriving two-and-a-half hours late at 1 pm local time (1200 GMT), according to a spokesman for Dusseldorf airport.
British Airways previously told a passenger on Twitter that the flight had been "diverted," but he responded that it seemed like an "honest mistake."
"The crew was convinced of the Edinburgh flight path," the passenger added.
"I don't think anyone on board has signed up for this mystery travel lottery," he said jokingly.