A United Airlines flight from Los Angeles to China was forced to create an unexpected U-turn after riding on a aircraft without a passport. CNN reported that Flight UA 198 planned to have a pilot blunder after about six hours in Shanghai.
Flight 198 flew from Lux with 257 passengers and 13 crew members at 2 pm on Saturday, traveling to North -West for Shanghai in the northwest of the Pacific Ocean. When the pilot came to know that he did not have his passport, the aircraft went back and eventually touched the flightware website at around 5 pm in San Francisco.
It later left for China again in the evening with a new crew. The flight left at 9 pm and eventually reached Shanghai about six hours behind the schedule.
Yang Shuhan, a passenger, told CNN that he listens to the “very disappointed voice” of the pilot on the intercom, stating that he forgot the passport. “
United Airlines allegedly provided over 250 passengers on board with “food vouchers and compensation”. Yang said he was given two $ 30 meal tickets on his arrival in San Francisco, which he used to buy food at a Japanese restaurant at the airport.
She also submitted a compensation claim on the United website, and was told that she would listen back to her in 14 commercial days.
The United Airlines issued a statement after the incident and said “the pilot did not have his passport” and made arrangements to take customers to their place “for a new crew”.
Shukor Yusoff, the founder of Singapore -based Andau Analytics, told CNN that the incident was “quite embarrassing.” He said that the blunder displays “lack of discipline” and is “unacceptable” for a major airline like United.
Passengers on return flight, UA 199 from Shanghai to Los Angeles, were also affected by the delayed arrival of UA 198.
In a similar incident last March, a cabin crew member of Pakistan International Airlines was fined $ 200 for flying from Islamabad to Toronto without passports.
She was on duty on flight PK-781, leading to Toronto, and she had to ride in a flight using a general announcement paperwork as she forgot to bring her passport.
