A passenger plane with 257 people on board was forced to land suddenly after a pilot’s passport blunder.
Passengers on the United flight UA198 had just settled in for the 13.5-hour journey from Los Angeles to Shanghai when the plane unexpectedly headed in a different direction.
The Boeing 787 started to cross the Pacific Ocean for China on Saturday when one of the pilots realised they had forgotten one crucial item – their passport.
The plane made a U-turn to San Francisco instead after two hours in the air, the Independent reported.
Plane tracking website Flightradar24 shows how the plane took off from LAX, flew northwest for a couple of hours before making a sharp turn back to the US West Coast.
Paramjot Singh, a passenger on the plane travelling to Shanghai for work, said he couldn’t believe his eyes when the destination on the screen changed to San Francisco.
He told Metro: ‘After 10 minutes, there was an announcement by captain that one of the pilot forgot the passport at home and they decided to turn the plane back to SFO.’
As compensation, passengers were offered two £15 (£11) coupons, which is ‘definitely not enough,’ he said.
‘I was supposed to arrive 6:30 pm Sunday night at Shanghai, then another three hours by car to my final destination, but I only arrived 5am on Monday morning,’ he continued.
‘I couldn’t be in the office on the same day as I was exhausted. It was an important day for me to be in office but I couldn’t show up.
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Angry passengers took to social media after they were stranded at San Francisco. One user said the passengers should’ve been given a free flight’ after the error.
The plane took off from San Francisco to Shanghai at about 8.30pm local time – after around three-and-a-half hours’ wait at the airport.
A United spokesperson said: ‘On Saturday, United flight 198 from Los Angeles to Shanghai landed at San Francisco International Airport as the pilot did not have their passport onboard.
‘We arranged for a new crew to take our customers to their destination that evening. Customers were provided with meal vouchers and compensation.’
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