[John Locke]

Check out some of the discussion here.

You are much less safe flying over blue water with only three engines, because you can't climb to proper cruising altitude and so burn more fuel. Which is exactly what happened - the plane barely made it to Manchester.

Another aspect of the story that seems left out is that the decision to fly on saved British Airways over $200k in compensation they would have been required to pay. What a coincidence - the compensation regs come into force on 1 March and suddenly BA allows its planes to fly minus one engine.

Fly Boeing. But don't fly BA.

[FreedomCalls]

You are much less safe flying over blue water with only three engines, because you can't climb to proper cruising altitude and so burn more fuel. Which is exactly what happened - the plane barely made it to Manchester.

So what's the difference between buring more fuel due to an IFSD and burning more fuel due to excessive headwind? Planes divert to their alternate due to bad weather at their primary every day. It's not a big deal.