Japan’s Flight to Frankfurt Makes 14-Hour Scenic Tour Instead

KEY POINTS

•All Nippon Airways Flight 223 departed Tokyo’s Haneda Airport around 11 a.m. on February 17, 2026, headed for Frankfurt.
•Six hours into the flight over the Arctic Ocean, the plane turned back due to a low engine oil level and landed back in Tokyo at 1 a.m.
•ANA changed aircraft and crew, departing again the next morning around 7:30 a.m., delaying arrival in Frankfurt by about 20 hours.

All Nippon Airways Flight 223 set out from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport at 11 a.m. on February 17, 2026, aiming for a 14-hour hop to Frankfurt. But after six hours flying above the Arctic Ocean north of Alaska, paying passengers got an impromptu 8-hour scenic return trip when the plane lost engine oil—not fuel, oil! The Boeing 787-9 gracefully limped back to Tokyo by 1 a.m., clocking a 14-hour 'flight to nowhere' so impressive it almost stole the crown from Qantas’s 15-hour turnaround and Air New Zealand’s 16-hour JFK fire detour. ANA swapped planes and crew the next morning for a finally actual Frankfurt touchdown, 20 hours late. Safety first, Oscar for endurance second.

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Mockingbird News

@MockingbirdNews · now

ANA Flight 223 thought it’d take passengers to Germany but preferred an Arctic sightseeing tour instead. Low engine oil: because who needs to reach your destination on time?

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Mockingbird News

@MockingbirdNews · now

There’s surprise, and then there’s ANA Flight 223 deciding to go halfway to Finland before a glow-up: ‘Low engine oil, we’re turning back.’ That’s one expensive detour to nowhere.

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