A United flight bound for Shanghai was diverted back to California three hours into the trip because the pilot forgot their passport, according to a media representative for the airline.
UA Flight 198 left Los Angeles International Airport at 1:44 pm PDT and was scheduled to land at Shanghai Pudong International about 14 hours later until the pilot discovered his disastrous mistake.
The flight was then diverted back to California and landed in San Francisco just after 5 pm, per flight logs tracked on Flight Aware.
Passengers on the Boeing aircraft 787-9 then finally took off for Shanghai around 9 pm and arrived just after 12:30 am local time.
United arranged for a new crew to take the 257 passengers to Shanghai and provided them with meal vouchers and compensation for the inconvenience, the media representative said.
The flight eventually landed at its destination six hours behind schedule, which impacted some of the passengers’ plans.
One passenger, who was flying for business, told CNN, that they had to reschedule their plans for Monday after the significant delay.
A second traveler said they had to drive another two hours after landing in Shanghai, leaving them exhausted.
Yang Shuhan, another traveler on the flight, said that the pilot announced his embarrassing mistake over the intercom and sounded ‘very frustrated.’
Yang told CNN that she received two meal vouchers totaling $30 to use for a meal at the San Francisco airport.
Shukor Yusof, the founder of Endau Analytics, an advisory firm for aviation, said that it was ‘unacceptable’ for an airline like United to make a mistake like this.
He explained that even though the diversion was only a few hours from where the flight took off, it reflected a level of ‘absent-mindedness’ that likely cost the airline, adding that the mistake was ‘unacceptable.’
Social media users also slammed the pilot online for the mistake, with one comment on X reading, ‘How does the PILOT of all people forget their passport.’
‘How did the pilot get in the plane in the first place. Doesn’t everyone get their passport checked?’ another questioned.
Other users expressed their shock that the airline only provided meal vouchers for the significant inconvenience.
‘$15 coupon at SFO was probably enough for a cup water and a slice of bread only,’ one comment joked.
‘$15?? Are you serious? Really happy the billion dollar company could scrap together a few bucks so the passengers can grab a water and half eaten bag of chips…’ another wrote.
The embarrassing mistake marks another stain on the aviation industry, which has come under scrutiny since the fatal collision in Washington DC that killed 67 passengers aboard an American Airlines flight.
Airlines have been under a microscope by the public since the crash, with mistakes becoming increasingly publicized.
United Airlines came under fire just a few days ago when actress January Jones shared on Instagram that she was only given $15 food vouchers after her flight was delayed for 16 hours.
She shared a screenshot of her massive delay and tagged the airline urging them to ‘Do better.’
‘A couple $15 food vouchers isn’t gonna cut it. Our 7:30 [p.m. flight] last night still hasn’t left,’ she added.
United was also scrutinized earlier this week when a passenger claimed they were forcibly dragged from an airplane bathroom with their pants down by a pilot.
A passenger named Yisroel Liebb, 20, alleged in a complaint that after 30 minutes in the bathroom, the pilot screamed at him to get out before breaking the lock and pulling him out.
According to Flight Radar, United is one of the largest airlines in the world based on fleet size, second only to American Airlines.