A clumsy mishap occurred last weekend when United Airlines Boeing 787 jetliner had to turn around after one of its pilots realised he had forgotten his passport!
The China-bound flight departed Los Angeles International Airport on March 22 at around 2pm, but was redirected to San Fransisco, where it landed at 5pm.
There were 257 passengers, along with 13 crew members, on board who were initially headed to China’s largest city, Shanghai.
However, the airline stated that "the pilot did not have their passport on board,” adding that “We arranged for a new crew to take our customers to their destination that evening. Customers were provided with meal vouchers and compensation.” The meal vouchers totalled $30.
The new flight scheduled for the passengers took off at 9pm, meaning that they landed around 6 hours behind schedule.
A Chinese passenger on board, Yang Shuhan, spoke to CNN, revealing that she heard the pilot’s “very frustrated voice” over the intercom when he said he “forgot [his] passport.”
Another exhausted passenger on the same flight was on her way back from a business trip. She stated that she still had to drive another two and a half hours after landing to reach her destination of Hangzhou. Although the delay affected her Monday working plans, she admitted that she appreciated the pilot’s “honesty.”
Nonetheless, many passengers on board complained about the incident on China’s social media platform RedNote, saying that they were “outraged” and “speechless!”
One passenger wrote: “How could someone mess up this badly at work?” whose post got more than 10,000 likes.
Additionally, the flight disruption also caused delays in the returning flight scheduled from Shanghai to LA.
One of the Shanghai-based business traveller told CNN that their LA-bound flight was delayed for 6 hours, forcing him to change his ticket to catch a connecting flight. He expressed that “I’m feeling pretty frustrated” after just landing at LAX late Sunday night. “Because of the delay, I have to reschedule all my plans for Monday, which is really inconvenient.”
Shukor Yusof, the founder of Singapore-based Endau Analytics, an advisory firm that focuses on the aviation industry, admitted that “It’s quite embarrassing (for United).” Stating that the pilots mistake shows a “lack of discipline, “and is simply “unacceptable.”
Yusof added that the incident probably cost the airline immensely, considering the cost of jet fuel and the compensation provided for all the passengers.
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