A United Airlines Boeing 787 jetliner flying from Los Angeles to Shanghai had to turn around last weekend after it was discovered one of the pilots had taken off without a passport, the airline told CNN in a statement.
Flight UA 198 departed LAX at around 2 p.m. Saturday, March 22, with 257 passengers and 13 crew onboard and headed northwest over the Pacific Ocean, bound for China’s largest city.
About two hours later, the plane turned around and was redirected to San Francisco, where it landed around 5 p.m. local time, according to the website FlightAware.
“The pilot did not have their passport onboard,” United said in the statement. “We arranged for a new crew to take our customers to their destination that evening. Customers were provided with meal vouchers and compensation.”
The flight with the new crew took off around 9 p.m. and landed in Shanghai about six hours behind schedule.
Yang Shuhan, a Chinese passenger on board, told CNN that she heard the pilot’s “very frustrated voice” over the intercom, saying he