A Garuda Indonesia Airbus A330-900neo spent nearly four hours flying repeated holding patterns over southern India during a recent flight from Jeddah to Medan, drawing widespread attention online.

If you’ve ever sat on a plane wondering why the pilot announced that you’d be landing soon but seemed to be flying in circles with no runway in sight, you’ve probably been in a holding pattern.

Pilots are generally expected to proceed inbound directly from a hold entry onto an approach; however, if not ready due to factors like speed, altitude, configuration, or incomplete briefing, they ...