A United Airlines 787 flight from Los Angeles to China was forced to turn back this weekend after it was discovered that a pilot had taken off without his passport, the airline told CNN in a statement.
Flight 198 departed LAX at 2 p.m. Saturday with 257 passengers and 13 crew members on board and headed northwest across the Pacific Ocean to Shanghai.
Two hours later, the plane turned back and headed to San Francisco, where it landed around 5 p.m., according to the website FlightAware.
“The pilot did not have their passport on board,” United said in a statement. “We arranged for a new crew to take our customers to their destinations that evening. The customers were given food vouchers and compensation.”
The new crew left at around 9pm and was delayed in Shanghai for about six hours.
