Oops: United Airlines Flight Diverts After Pilot Forgets Passport

Airline operations are complicated, and there are all kinds of reasons that flights potentially need to divert. However, this has to be among the most embarrassing reasons, as flagged by View from the Wing.

Shanghai-bound United 787 diverts to San Francisco

This incident started on Saturday, March 22, 2025, and involves United Airlines flight UA198, scheduled to operate from Los Angeles (LAX) to Shanghai (PVG). The flight was being flown by a Boeing 787-9 with the registration code N35953.

The 6,485-mile flight was scheduled to depart at 1:45PM, and arrive the following day at 6:35PM, after a 13-14 hour journey. Unfortunately that’s not quite how things played out, though…

The flight took off at 2:01PM, more or less on schedule. For 1hr45min, the jet flew westbound over the Pacific Ocean. However, at some point during this portion of the flight, one of the four pilots reportedly realized that they didn’t have their passport on them.

As a result, the decision was made to divert. Specifically, the plane made a u-turn, and then flew to San Francisco (SFO), which was a bit closer, and is an even bigger hub for United. The aircraft touched down there at 4:54PM, 2hr53min after it first departed Los Angeles.

United is great about providing updates to passengers about the reasons for operational issues, and in this case, the airline officially relayed the following information to passengers (even though the reason for the diversion was expressed directly to passengers):

UA198 SFO-PVG: Your flight diverted to San Francisco due to an unexpected crew-related issue requiring a new crew. Once they arrive, we’ll get you back on your way to Shanghai as soon as possible. We sincerely apologize for this disruption and appreciate your patience.

Passengers were reportedly given $15 meal vouchers, while the airline worked to find a new crew. All things considered, that was handled pretty efficiently. The plane ended up departing once again for Shanghai at 9:01PM, and it’s scheduled to arrive at 12:49AM on Monday, a little over six hours behind schedule.

Interestingly, the exact same flight was delayed by around three hours on departure a day prior. On Reddit, some users claim that the delay was for exactly the same reason, because one of the pilots forgot their passport. Of course I can’t personally vouch for that, and that would be one wild coincidence, if true.

What an embarrassing and costly mistake!

It goes without saying that as an international pilot, perhaps the single most basic aspect of the job is to be sure you have the documents required in order to enter your destination country.

I’m a little confused and surprised… do pilots at United not have to present or scan their passport at any point prior to departure? It seems like in the briefing room there should be some sort of a check, no? This is about as avoidable as diversions could possibly be.

I think a lot of people are logically asking “well why didn’t they just complete the flight, and then send the pilot back on the same plane, or something?” It’s a fair question, though I suspect that it’s not that straightforward:

• For one, the return flight would’ve been short a pilot, and presumably even if United deadheaded in an extra pilot, there may not have been sufficient rest before their duty time, causing an even more significant delay for another flight
• I would imagine there may be regulations against operating a flight to a country once it’s determined that one of the crew members doesn’t have eligible entry requirements
• I wouldn’t be surprised if union rules also factor in here, regarding potentially being detained in China, or the pilot potentially having way too long of a duty day if he then had to dead head back to the United States

Regardless, talk about an embarrassing mistake. This incident caused at least three hours of extra fuel burn and United needed to pay for two full crews (since the entire crew had to be swapped), not to mention the inconvenience for passengers traveling in both directions, since the return flight had to be delayed as well.

Obviously pilots are well protected by their union contracts, though I’m curious, does anyone know what the repercussions would be in a situation like this? Is it a simple slap on the wrist, or something more serious?

Bottom line

A United Airlines Boeing 787 bound for Shanghai had to make a u-turn over the Pacific, after it was discovered that one of the pilots didn’t have their passport. The flight originated in Los Angeles and diverted to San Francisco. Fortunately United found a replacement crew pretty quickly, but even so, it caused a roughly six hour delay. That’s rough!

What do you make of this United diversion incident?