sfb wrote:
Because they don't know the extent of the damage. Los Angles to
Frankfurt is the great circle across the Arctic which is not the best of
places to discover your airplane is broken.


From what's described, it's a tire burst that was suffered by the 747,
so how it makes a difference? You still have to land the aircraft
anyway, so why not do it in Frankfurt than LA?

The one unwelcome scenario I can think of is that of an emergency
landing situation en route (due to some other reason), in which case
you'd prefer an airport to come down in rather than unknown terrain
without a proper set of wheels.

Ramapriya