In an unusual twist mid-air, a United Airlines flight on the way from Los Angeles to Shanghai was forced to change the route after the pilot found out that he had left his passport behind. As reported by The Independent, the incident occurred on March 22, leaving hundreds of passengers frustrated and delayed for hours.
Flight UA198, a Boeing 787-9 carrying 257 passengers, had left for a 13-hour journey from Los Angeles International Airport at 2 pm. But after two hours into the flight, the aircraft made a U-turn over the Pacific Ocean headed back to California, and landed in San Francisco just before 5 pm.
Tracking data from FlightRadar 24 confirmed the sudden route reversal. Passengers shared their confusion and anger on social media. One traveller posted on X: ‘’UA198 diverted to SFO because the pilot forgot his passport? Now stuck six-plus hours. Completely unacceptable.’’
Passengers left waiting
United Airlines commented with an apology. The airlines also provided a $15 meal voucher and also shared the instructions on how to apply for the compensation. In a statement given to The Independent, the airline mentioned, ‘’On Saturday, United flight 198 from Los Angeles to Shanghai landed at San Francisco International Airport as the pilot did not have their passport abroad. We arranged for a crew to take our customers to their destination that evening.’’
As per flight tracking data, a replacement flight took off from San Francisco around 9 pm, eventually landing in Shanghai early morning on Sunday.
This is not the first such incident that has happened. In 2019, a T’way Air flight from Vietnam to South Korea was delayed by 11 hours after the pilot lost his passport, leaving 160 passengers stuck overnight.