United Airlines flight forced to turn around 2 hours into 13-hour flight as pilot realizes he's forgotten his passport

A United Airlines flight was forced to turn around after the pilot realized that he had forgotten his passport...

Your passport should be the first thing you pack when going abroad, because you won't get very far without it.

If you're like me, then you'll have checked that it's still in your bag at least five times before you reach the airport.

Having said that, I do understand how some people could forget it during the chaos of packing for a vacation.

But if you're a pilot, surely it should be the done thing to triple-check that you have it?

Well, one United Airlines flight headed from Los Angeles to Shanghai was forced to make a sharp U-turn mid-air after the pilot realized his mistake.

Flight UA198 took off from LAX just before 2:00PM local time on Saturday, March 22. But just two hours into the journey, it had to divert and land in San Francisco, CNN and ABC 7 Eyewitness News reported.

“The pilot did not have their passport onboard,” United Airlines confirmed in a statement to CNN. “We arranged for a new crew to take our customers to their destination that evening. Customers were provided with meal vouchers and compensation.”

According to the airline, the plane was carrying 257 passengers and 13 crew members.

Flight tracking site Flight Aware shows the plane touched down at San Francisco International Airport at 5:05PM local time. It eventually departed again for Shanghai at 8:28PM, finally landing at 12:48AM local time on March 24 — about six hours behind schedule.

A message sent to passengers during the journey explained: “Your flight diverted to San Francisco due to an unexpected crew-related issue requiring a new crew. Once they arrive, we’ll get you back on your way to Shanghai as soon as possible. We sincerely apologize for this disruption and appreciate your patience,” according to View from the Wing.

One passenger, Yang Shuhan, told CNN that the pilot admitted in a “very frustrated voice” over the intercom that he “forgot (his) passport.”

She received “two meal vouchers totaling $30” and filed a compensation claim on United Airlines’ website, though she hadn’t yet received a direct response.

Another passenger wasn’t nearly as patient and vented their frustration on social media.

“@united — UA198 diverted to SFO because the pilot forgot his passport? Now stuck 6+ hours. Completely unacceptable. What compensation are you offering for this total mishandling?” the user posted on X (formerly Twitter).

United replied: “We sincerely apologize for this unexpected travel disruption. For assistance with your reservation, you can speak to our Agent On Demand team at http://united.com/aod.”

The passenger followed up: “The agents did what they could. It’s on United that they let this happened. All the passengers deserves compensation.”

According to CNN, others took to the Chinese app RedNote, where users described themselves as “outraged” and “speechless” over the debacle.

Featured image credit: Douglas Sacha / Getty