A total of 100 travel industry personnel who attended the Advantage annual conference in Cancun were stuck for 24 hours in Mexico after the British Airways’ flight due to collect them was forced to divert to Canada following a medical emergency.

Agents, suppliers, members of the Advantage team and media had been due to fly home from the conference on flight BA2202 on Saturday evening.  

However, the inbound flight from London Gatwick to Cancun had to divert to St John’s, Newfoundland when a female passenger became ill and had to be taken to hospital.

The departure from Cancun was further delayed until Sunday evening after the flight crew ran out of permitted flying hours.

BA secured accommodation for everyone on the delayed flight at the Hyatt Ziva Riviera Cancun and Advantage said delegates were ‘in good spirts’.

Bedsonline Key Account Manager Selina Larkin said: “A delay is not ideal, but it really can’t be helped. We’ve all had a great conference and Advantage have been helpful in keeping us informed.”

Advantage CEO Julia Lo Bue-Said said: “It’s obviously been a disappointing end to a fantastic event. But considering the sad circumstances of the delay everyone has been very understanding and supportive. 

“We’ve been working night and day with the British Airways team to ensure everyone has been communicated with and kept up to date on developments. 

“I’m hugely grateful to all delegates impacted by this delay for their compassion. Everyone has been in good spirits, which has helped us enormously with managing the process.”

Flight BA9604 from Cancun to London eventually departed at 9pm local time on Sunday, and was due to land at Gatwick at 11.19am today.

Sunday evening’s scheduled flight from Cancun was also delayed from 19:40 (01:40 GMT) local time to 05.00 (11:00 GMT) local time on Monday.