United Airlines’ 787 aircraft, flying from Los Angeles, USA to China, had to turn back when it was realized that one of the pilots had taken off without his passport.
In a statement to CNN International, the airline company said that the flight number 198 took off from LAX on Saturday at 14:00 local time with 257 passengers and 13 crew members on board, heading northwest over the Pacific Ocean towards Shanghai.
According to FlightAware website, the aircraft turned back two hours later and headed towards San Francisco, where it landed around 17:00.
United stated, “The pilot’s passport was not on the aircraft. We arranged a new crew to take our customers to their destinations that evening. Customers were provided with meal vouchers and compensation.”
The new crew took off around 9 pm and arrived in Shanghai 6 hours later than planned.
