A British Airways long haul flight was canceled after authorities carried out a drug bust on the aircraft, as flagged by PYOK, and documented by a passenger on Reddit. That’s gotta be awkward.
British Airways Cancun to London flight busted with dugs
This incident happened on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, and involves British Airways flight BA2202 from Cancun (CUN) to London (LGW). The flight was scheduled to depart at 8PM and arrive at 11:35AM the following morning, operated by a Boeing 777-200ER with the registration code G-YMME.
The flight’s departure was already delayed quite a bit, due to a late inbound aircraft, so the departure time was updated to 9:40PM. Around 9PM, the crew boarded the aircraft, and a short while later, priority boarding and those needing extra time were invited to board.
Then boarding suddenly stopped, and passengers were told that an update would be provided in 10 minutes. However, there were no updates for hours.
Then around 10:20PM, passengers spotted a large number of police officers and sniffer dogs on the apron going through bags, taking out what looked like “bricks” of drugs. Some samples were reportedly taken.
The Reddit user claims that various passengers had view of two flight attendants being arrested, but that hasn’t been officially confirmed.
Finally, after nearly five hours, at 12:45AM, the British Airways ground staff informed passengers that the flight was canceled, as further investigations needed to be carried out. Passengers were also told that the plane could be seized for a few days, so there weren’t yet details about when passengers could actually depart. It was possible that passengers would simply be rebooked on other routings on subsequent days.
Passengers then had to collect their bags and go through immigration again, and made it to a hotel around 2AM. Some passengers reportedly weren’t even checked in until 5:30AM, as they had to wait hours until it was their turn to check-in.
The flight to London operated with a 24+ hour delay
Fortunately the aircraft was “cleared” relatively quickly, and the plane ended up being allowed to operate roughly 24 hours later, on April 9, with the replacement flight number BA9603. The aircraft finally ended up taking off at 10:13PM, and touched down in London the following day at 12:47PM, after a flight of 8hr34min.
British Airways has “apologized to customers for the overnight delay to their flight to London Gatwick,” blaming it on “circumstances entirely out of our control.”
I’m sure we’ll never know, but I’m mighty curious as to what the story actually is, in terms of how the drugs got on the plane. Was a crew member actually involving, was it a passenger’s bag, were the drugs being shipped as cargo, or what? Obviously we have some eyewitnesses suggesting crew members were arrested, but that might not be accurate, or it could be that they were just being investigated.
Bottom line
A transatlantic British Airways flight was canceled after authorities found drugs on the aircraft. This discovery happened after the crew and passengers started to board the aircraft. Passengers weren’t given any updates for hours, before ultimately being put up in a hotel, where many passengers were only checked in by the morning.
While a lot of drugs are transported by planes, it’s rare to see a bust like this, where boarding is literally being stopped while police search the aircraft. It sounds like something straight out of “Locked Up Abroad.”
What do you make of this British Airways drug bust?
