A plane✈️turns back after takeoff for some strange reason

A United Airlines Boeing 787 bound for Shanghai from Los Angeles was forced to turn back last weekend after it was discovered that one of the pilots had taken off without a passport, according to a statement from the airline.

Flight number UA 198 departed Los Angeles International Airport around 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 22, with 257 passengers and 13 crew members on board, bound for China.

About two hours later, the plane turned back and was rerouted to San Francisco, where it landed around 5 p.m. local time, according to FlightAware. "The pilot's passport was not on board," United Airlines said in a statement. "We arranged for a new crew to fly our customers to their destination that evening. Customers were provided with meal vouchers and compensation."

The flight with the new crew departed around 9 p.m. and landed in Shanghai about six hours late.

"I heard the pilot's voice annoyed over the intercom, saying he had forgotten his passport," Yang Shuhan, a Chinese passenger on the flight, told CNN.

After landing in San Francisco, Yang received two $30 food vouchers, which she used for a meal at a Japanese restaurant at the airport. She added that she filed a compensation claim on United's website, where she was told to expect a response within 14 business days.

The passenger, who was flying from Hangzhou, eastern China, was returning from a business trip. After arriving in Shanghai at 12:43 a.m. Monday, she had to drive an extra two and a half hours, leaving her exhausted.

Many passengers complained, expressing their "angry" and "stunned" on Red Note, a Chinese platform similar to Instagram. One wrote, "How could someone mess up the business so much?" The post garnered more than 10,000 likes.

The disruption didn't stop with UA 198; passengers on the return flight, UA 199 from Shanghai to Los Angeles, were also affected, as their flight was delayed by six hours.

United Airlines is one of the world's largest airlines, carrying 140 million people to more than 300 destinations across six continents annually, according to the company's website.

Source - CNNArabic Published on March 26, 2025