United Airlines flight turns back mid-air after pilot forgets Passport

In a strange turn of events, a United Airlines Boeing 787 jetliner, which was flying to Shanghai had to turn back to Los Angeles, after one of the flight’s pilots realized, he  had left his passport at the airport. The incident took place on Saturday, March 22 at around 2:00 PM.  

According to reports, the plane was carrying at least 257 passengers and 13 crew members, when it took off for Shanghai and after two hours, the plane turned around and was redirected to San Francisco where it landed at around 5:00 PM.  

United Airlines shared a statement stating that one of their pilots did not have his passport onboard to which the flight had to go back.  

United Airlines offers compensation  

The statement further emphasized that, upon landing the crew was changed with a new one to prevent any delay. The customers were also provided with compensation and meal vouchers by the airline.  

However, the airline has not shed any light on the value of the compensation or meal vouchers they had provided. The flight with the new crew then took off at around 9:00 PM and landed in Shanghai approximately six hours late to its normal schedule.  

While the airlines didn’t shed light on the value of compensation offered, passengers took to social media to share their experience, where one of the passengers stated that two of the meal vouchers, they received totaled $30.  

Netizens react to the incident 

Many other users cited their dissatisfaction stating the airline had a ‘Lack of Discipline’. A user named Leon Cachuela wrote, “It’s part of the captain briefing with the crew to make sure they have all the required items specially traveling international.”  

Another user wrote, “He should touch down at the destination and be sent back home. The passengers had nothing to do with that.”  

“If you’re that pilot, you can’t be such an irresponsible person that even your own very important document for traveling abroad isn’t the first priority in your checklist to bring,” wrote Toh Nee on Facebook.