A United Airlines flight bound for Shanghai was forced to turn around mid-journey after it was found that one of the pilots had taken off without a passport, the airline confirmed in a statement.
Flight UA 198, which departed Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on March 22 at around 2 pm, had 257 passengers and 13 crew members onboard, According to CNN. The Boeing 787 jet was en route to China’s largest city when the issue came to light approximately two hours into the flight, prompting the plane to return. It was redirected to San Francisco International Airport, where it landed at around 5 pm, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.
United Airlines acknowledged the incident, saying, “The pilot did not have their passport onboard. We arranged for a new crew to take our customers to their destination that evening. Customers were provided with meal vouchers and compensation.”
Following the delay, the rescheduled flight took off around 9 pm, arriving in Shanghai approximately six hours behind schedule.
Passengers onboard reported frustration over the disruption. Yang Shuhan, a traveler from Hangzhou, China, recounted hearing the pilot’s “very frustrated voice” over the intercom, admitting he had forgotten his passport. Yang, who was returning from a business trip, landed in Shanghai at 12.43 am on Monday and still had a two-and-a-half-hour drive ahead, leaving her exhausted.
Social media users in China, particularly on the RedNote platform, expressed outrage over the incident, with a widely liked post questioning how such a mistake could occur. Some passengers on the return flight, UA 199 from Shanghai to Los Angeles, were also impacted due to the delay of the inbound aircraft, with one traveller saying they were forced to adjust their connecting flight due to the schedule disruption.
Aviation expert Shukor Yusof, founder of Singapore-based Endau Analytics, criticised the situation, calling it an “unacceptable” lapse for a global airline of United’s stature. He pointed out that beyond reputational damage, the airline likely incurred significant costs, including wasted jet fuel and passenger compensation.
United Airlines, one of the largest carriers globally, transports approximately 140 million passengers annually to over 300 destinations across six continents. The airline has not disclosed whether further internal measures will be taken following the incident.
