A United Airlines flight was forced to turn around on its way to China. Although, the reason may not be what you expected. It wasn't due to any technical difficulties, just memory issues. That's right, this flight was forced to turn around after the pilot forgot his passport.
United Airlines Forced To Turn Around After Pilot Forgot His Passport
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People Magazine shares that Flight UA198 was headed to Shanghai when something unexpected caused them to change course. Once their were air bound the pilot realized that he had forgotten his passport. The little mishap caused the plane "to divert to San Francisco as a result after departing from LAX just before 2:00 p.m. local time on Saturday, March 22."
United Airlines realized how inconvenient this was for all 257 passengers on board. As soon as they landed in San Francisco, they were provided with a new crew to take them to their desired destination. Additionally, People shares that "Customers were provided with meal vouchers and compensation." Although the plane did eventually make it to their desired destination, they were six hours behind schedule.
Passengers Are Upset
Naturally, the passengers were not thrilled to learn that their pilot forgot his passport. After all, of all people to forget their passport you would assume it wouldn't be the person flying the plane. One passenger spoke with CNN and claimed that she received " two meal vouchers totaling $30 and filed a compensation claim on United Airline's website." Although she has not yet heard a response to her claim.
Another passenger took to X to share their frustration. They wrote, "@united- "UA198 diverted to SFO because the pilot forgot his passport? Now stuck 6+ hours. Completely unacceptable. @united, what compensation are you offering for this total mishandling?" While each passenger handled the situation differently, it is safe to say that the majority of them were utterly shocked that the pilot forgot their passport.
