Posted on 03/25/2025 4:25:16 AM PDT by DFG
A United Airlines Boeing 787 jetliner flying from Los Angeles to Shanghai had to turn around last weekend after it was discovered one of the pilots had taken off without a passport, the airline told CNN in a statement.
Flight UA 198 departed LAX at around 2 p.m. Saturday, March 22, with 257 passengers and 13 crew onboard and headed northwest over the Pacific Ocean, bound for China’s largest city.
About two hours later, the plane turned around and was redirected to San Francisco, where it landed around 5 p.m. local time, according to the website FlightAware.
“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.”
The flight with the new crew took off around 9 p.m. and landed in Shanghai about six hours behind schedule.
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.
The traveler from Hangzhou, in eastern China, was on her way back from a business trip. After reaching Shanghai at 12:43 a.m. on Monday, she still had to drive another two and a half hours, she said, leaving her exhausted.
(Excerpt) Read more at lite.cnn.com ...
Airports no longer screen flight crews, other than a quick TSA check, so no surprise that a pilot could make that mistake.
This IS embarrassing. I also think it’s ridiculous that a certified airline pilot has to go to such an extreme. Are they really a security threat?
So stay in the terminal in Shanghai before Immigration until you can get the next flight back. That better be a really good pilot for United to spend that much money for something like that and not fire him. United sure as hell wouldn’t turn around if a pax forgot their passport.
Another possibility...the US Embassy/Consulate could have issued him an emergency passport (there really is such a thing) and they could have delivered it to the airport.
Sounds really,really stupid to me!
Yesterday I watched the Tucker Carlson podcast, he had on a woman who is a Captain with United Airlines, she flies the 767, her husband is also a pilot and flies the 787.
If you want to know about how screwed up the airline industry is, watch the podcast, pilots with 1500 hours of flight time are being hired and within 2 years they get made a Captain.
She refused to take the Covid Vaccine and got canned by United until a group of 2000 United Employees won a lawsuit, and she was brought back.
If you want to hear about what is happening inside the airline industry, the podcast was worth watching.
My first thought as well.
Got to Orlando and realized what happened. I then discovered that the car rental company would *not* rent me a car without it...despite the dozen other cards I had with my name on it (including several credit cards).
With no car I had to fly back home.Eighteen hours of flying...3,000 miles...got home at 1AM.
And this was a few days after that crash in DC and my flight back included a stop there. I got to fly over the Potomac just as that plane did a few days earlier.
I couldn't even do that there when I was a Student pilot but if you're a military student in training, I guess it's ok. See how that turned out.
“Meal vouchers”
So they get a free Jimmy Johns airport sub.
I wondered that as well. Lost (or stolen) passports happen, even in flight. I was once seated next to a guy who couldn’t find his passport when we landed, though obviously he had had it to board. I don’t recall where he thought he had put it, but perhaps somewhere other than on his person. Women put passports in purses and bags all the time. The flight attendants helped him ransack his seat, the adjoining seats, his luggage, etc. to no avail. I don’t know how it was resolved, but this has to be a common enough problem.
I once lost a prescription that I kinda, sorta needed. It had gone AWOL from a pocket in my jacket somewhere in flight. I was grimly prepping myself for a trip to the nearest hospital or U.S. consulate to run a prescription refill marathon with an English speaking intermediary who could do the necessaries with the prescribing physician back home, but different countries, different customs. The hotel concierge called a local pharmacy, and 20 minutes later, a gal from the pharmacy chugged up the drive on her motorbike with the refill.
The point being that even stuff you think you have secured gets lost in flight. Gremlins are everywhere.
Sounds like a cover story.
I was talking on the phone last December with a friend who is an airline pilot. He was somewhere in northwest Canada and forgot his jacket.
I busted him for being a professional traveler and forgetting such a basic item.
(I also travel 50-60% of the time and have never made such a stupid mistake. Wanna bet?)
stuff happens
Geez! He’ll be working without pay for years to cover the operating cost of that flight to nowhere.
Baloney. Something else was going on here.
I had it happen to a flight attendant. The simple solution is to stay on the plane and return to the US. But, nooooooo.
They made her deplane, took her to a secure area and kept her there until the airline paid an $8000 fine. It is not a quick process.
You need to understand the Chinese mentality. They are given a job to do. There is no deviation from the procedure. Thought and common sense will get them sent to the Mongolian border.
EC
I foolishly signed up for a flight to Asia with a 1+ day stopover in China. Those security folks at the airport escorted me back to the airline to purchase an earlier departure. Had to eat the ticket and hotel stay.
Trump’s doing the right thing with them.
I know both of them. She is a true redhead- fiery and spirited. He is a calm and mild true gentleman.
EC
At least I *think* they're joking!
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