Goober Pilot Forgets Passport, Forces Plane Bound For China To Turn Around Mid-Flight

Do you know that feeling of getting all the way to work and then realizing you left your cell phone at home? Well, multiply that by a trillion and you're about halfway to how one pilot felt after realizing he forgot his passport two hours into a trip to China. A United Airlines 787 flying from Los Angeles to Shanghai was forced to head back to the U.S. after one of the pilots noticed he didn't have his passport on him, NBC News reports.

United Flight 198 left LAX around 2 p.m. on March 22 with 257 passengers and 13 crew members onboard. About two hours into the flight, the plane pulled a U-turn and was redirected to San Francisco, where it landed around 5 p.m., according to CNN. The airline issued the following statement to news outlets:

"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."

After the whole passport debacle was sorted out, the flight with a new crew took off from SFO around 9 p.m. and landed in Shanghai about six hours behind schedule. Here's a bit more on the experience of those onboard the flight, from a passenger who spoke with CNN:

Yang Shuhan, a Chinese passenger on board, told CNN that she heard the pilot's "very frustrated voice" over the intercom, saying he "forgot (his) passport."

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

Another passenger told CNN that she appreciates the "honesty" of the pilot, but she's probably in the minority. Many other passengers complained on RedNote, a Chinese social media site, saying they were "outraged" and "speechless":

"How could someone mess up this badly at work?" read a popular RedNote post appearing to be from another Chinese passenger on board. The post has gotten more than 10,000 likes.

UA198 wasn't the only flight to get messed up because of this error. UA199, the reverse trip from Shanghai to Los Angeles, was also affected because the plane showed up so late.

It has not been a banner couple of years for United or the aviation industry as a whole. Since the beginning of 2024, we've told you about a 737 Max hitting a coyote, a flight being diverted because some barfed so much it created a "biohazard", a plane gushing fluid before landing, a near-mid air collision that injured two passengers, and how the wheel of a 777 smashed through a parking lot after falling off during takeoff.

It's been a rough few months for my favorite airline.