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British Airways passengers were forced to endure a nightmare 6,000-mile "flight to nowhere" after it set off from Heathrow – only to land back at the London airport 12 hours later.

The BA jet turned back due to a “minor technical fault” after it had already reached the halfway point on its journey to Tokyo.

The plane set off at noon on Thursday and landed back in Heathrow at midnight – an hour after it was due to touch down in Japan.

Those on board included a member of dance music duo Gorgon City, who was forced to pull out of a gig in the city.

He tweeted: “Sorry but due to @British_Airways flight being redirected home I won't be with you tonight Tokyo. Kye is on his way tho. Matt ”

Another passenger, Scott Eaton, tweeted: “Easily #worstflightever London-Tokyo 12 hrs flying but landed where we started! Wrong flight plan. @British_Airways.”

It had been flying over northern Siberia when it turned around and headed back to London, where passengers were given hotel rooms before taking another flight today.

Mr Eaton added this morning: “It's going to be like groundhog day sitting in the same seat, next to the same people for a redo of the flight today.”

BA could be hit with a bill of up to £300,000, according to the Independent, as it is expected to pay hundreds of pounds as compensation to the passengers on board and those in Japan who were due to catch the plane’s return flight.

The incident happened on the same day that BA passengers at Heathrow faced huge check-in delays after a computer glitch.

A spokesman for BA told the Independent that a "minor technical fault" was to blame for the return to Heathrow.

In a statement, the airline said: "Our pilot returned to Heathrow after a routing change by air traffic control significantly lengthened the flight time.

"We are sorry for the delay to our customers' journeys.

"We looked after our customers in hotels overnight and they are now on their way to Tokyo."