When you’re traveling internationally, it’s important to make sure you have your passport with you when you fly. That’s true if you’re a passenger — and it’s especially true if you’re a pilot. Unfortunately for the passengers and crew on board a recent United Airlines flight to Shanghai, the pilot didn’t have their passport with them, resulting in the plane being re-routed so that a different pilot could come on board to guide the plane to its intended destination.
As Business Insider‘s Lindsay Dodgson reports, this somehow wasn’t the only time in the last few months when a United flight to Shanghai was delayed due to a lack of passport.
The article about rerouted flights cites two examples. One, which took place last Saturday, involved a Shanghai-bound flight from Los Angeles that ended up making an unexpected stop in San Francisco. The second flight was also a Los Angeles-to-Shanghai flight; in this case, the flight was delayed from leaving Los Angeles until a new pilot could arrive.
When Business Insider asked about the delays, a United Airlines spokesperson confirmed that missing passports were responsible in both cases. According to the spokesperson, passengers on the flight that stopped in San Francisco were given “meal vouchers and compensation” due to the change in itinerary.
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It’s part of a growing industry shiftHaving a valid passport on hand is an important part of the job for aviation professionals. A 2023 article on the travel industry website Simple Flying observed that “[h]olding a valid passport is a tacitly accepted aspect of working as a crew member for an airline.” Given that we don’t hear about re-routed flights like this too frequently, it seems like virtually all pilots have this part of their pre-flight routine down. When they don’t, however, things can get chaotic very quickly.
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