A passenger plane carrying 257 people was forced to make an emergency landing after one of the pilots made a surprising passport blunder.
The incident occurred on United Flight UA198, which had departed from Los Angeles (LAX) and was en route to Shanghai. The Boeing 787 had begun its Pacific Ocean crossing on Saturday when one of the pilots realized they had forgotten their passports.
As a result, the aircraft was forced to make a U-turn and return to San Francisco (SFO) after spending nearly two hours in the air.
The unusual flight path was captured by the tracking website Flightradar24, which showed the plane initially heading northwest before sharply turning back toward the US West Coast.
Passenger Paramjot Singh, traveling to Shanghai for work, described his shock when the destination display suddenly changed to San Francisco.
He told Metro: “After about 10 minutes, the captain announced that one of the pilots had forgotten their passport at home, and they had decided to return to SFO.”
To compensate for the disruption, passengers were offered two £15 coupons (around £11) for food and drinks, but Mr. Singh felt this was “definitely not enough.”
“I was supposed to arrive at 6:30 pm on Sunday in Shanghai, followed by a three-hour car journey to my final destination,” he explained.
“Instead, I didn’t reach there until 5 am on Monday. I was exhausted because I couldn’t reach the office that day. It was an important day, but I couldn’t attend.”
Several frustrated passengers voiced their anger on social media, with one traveler suggesting they should have been compensated with a free flight due to the significant inconvenience.
The flight eventually departed from San Francisco to Shanghai at approximately 8:30 pm local time, after passengers endured a three-and-a-half-hour wait at the airport.
A United spokesperson addressed the incident, confirming that United Flight 198 had been diverted to San Francisco International Airport because one of the pilots did not have their passport.
“We arranged for a new crew to take our customers to their destination that evening,” the spokesperson added. “Passengers were provided with meal vouchers and additional compensation.”
