Passport Mishap Forces United Airlines Flight to Turn Back Midway to Shanghai
A United Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Shanghai made an unexpected U-turn last weekend — because one of the pilots forgot their passport.
Flight UA 198, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, departed LAX around 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 22, carrying 257 passengers and 13 crew members. The trans-Pacific journey was well underway when, roughly two hours in, the aircraft suddenly circumstantial. It was redirected to San Francisco, where it landed at approximately 5 p.m., according to flight tracking data from FlightAware.
In a statement to Family Us , United confirmed the unusual cause of the detour: “The pilot did not have their passport onboard.” The airline added that a new flight crew was arranged to continue the journey later that evening. Passengers were provided meal vouchers and compensation for the delay.
The replacement flight takes off around 9 p.m., finally landing in Shanghai nearly six hours behind schedule.
Chinese business traveler Yang Shuhan, one of the passengers aboard UA 198, recalled hearing the pilot’s voice over the intercom: “He sounded very frustrated and said he forgot his passport.” After landing in San Francisco, Yang received two meal vouchers totaling $30 and filed a compensation claim on United’s website, where she was told to expect a response within 14 business days.
The delay throw off Yang’s Monday morning plans. After arriving in Shanghai at 12:43 a.m., she still had a two-and-a-half-hour drive ahead of her. “I was completely exhausted,” she said, though she appreciated the pilot’s transparency. “At least he was honest.”
Not everyone shared her understanding. On RedNote — China’s Instagram-like social platform — sensors expressed in an irritation, with one viral post asking, “How could someone mess up this badly at work?” That post alone watched over 10,000 likes.
The ripple effect didn’t end there. The inbound aircraft’s delay caused a domino impact on the return leg, UA 199 from Shanghai to Los Angeles, which was pushed back by nearly six hours. A Shanghai-based traveler told CNN the delay caused them to miss a connecting flight, forcing them to reschedule their entire Monday itinerary. “It’s pretty exciting,” they said.
Industry Experts Call It ‘Unacceptable’
Aviation analyst Shukor Yusof, founder of Singapore-based Endau Analytics, didn’t mince words. “It’s quite embarrassing for the United. This is unacceptable for a major global airline, “he told CNN, pointing to what he called “a lack of discipline” and professionalism.
United Airlines is one of the largest carriers in the world, flying over 140 million passengers annually to more than 300 destinations worldwide. For an airline of its scale, Yusof said, such an oversight could carry steep financial consequences —ranging from dumped jet fuel to customer compensation and reputational damage.
While this incident was not a security threat, it adds to a growing list of headline-grabbing controversies involving the airline.
Just last week, a lawsuit emerged accusing a United pilot of forcibly removing an Orthodox Jewish passenger from a lavatory during a medical episode, allegedly exposing the man’s genitals in public view. And in another viral incident, a New Jersey mother criticized the airline for asking her to disconnect her medically complex son’s breathing tube previously to takeoff. Her TikTok video detailing the experience has already amassed more than 1.3 million views.
A Protocol Failure, Not a Safety One
Although this latest mishap didn’t compromise flight safety, it raises serious concerns about internal checks and balances. “This wasn’t a technical failure—it was a failure of a basic protocol,” Yusof emphasized.
For passengers like Yang and the many others impacted by the delay, the mishap was more than an inconvenience — it was a reminder that even in high-tech aviation, human error finds still a way to ground the best-laid plans.
