We just received a tip from George of yet another United Airlines Hawaii flight diversion. Yesterday’s first diversion was a Hawaii-bound United Boeing 777-200, forced to return to the mainland due to mechanical problems. This second one from Honolulu was diverted back to HNL first, then diverted again to San Francisco instead of its final destination of Houston. The overnight flight left HNL on time last night at 9:03 pm, bound for Houston (IAH), and scheduled to arrive at 3:57 am. The flight finally landed there at 5:48 pm. That was nearly 14 hours after they were expected.
On this previously unreported diversion, the flight crew turned back to HNL to deal with what is now being reported to us to have been a medical issue after a little more than an hour in the air. The 23-year-old Boeing 777-200 plane then took off from HNL again this morning at 2:22 am. This time they made it across the Pacific. However, the flight diverted to San Fransisco (the nearest point to Hawaii) rather than continuing on its designated route to Houston. The flight crew timed out due to the prior delay that resulted in the change in plans.
This sounds like quite an ordeal for everyone involved and comes as just the latest in a series of five United Airlines diversions over the last two weeks. Is it just us, or does it seem like there are far more instances of Hawaii flights diverting primarily due to engine, other technical idea, or medical events while in the air, which causes them to either return to their point of origin or fly instead to a closer alternative airport?
It is starting to feel like we are reading about incidents like these almost daily. That begs the question of whether there is an issue with the airlines doing proper aircraft maintenance, or is this just some big coincidence? You tell us.
Wednesday’s other United Hawaii diversion: United Smoke In Cabin | 4th Diversion In Two Weeks.
Joe: Airplanes, like anything mechanical, need proper maintenance. My guess would be that taking care of all planes would extend their service life and safety. Nothing can run forever. My Yugo finally died at almost 275 (yup, 275) miles!!
Jay: During Covid, these airlines should have been doing maintenance on their aircraft, preparing for Covid to end.
But they just stored planes.
Our concerns were just echoed by the many comments we received.
Doug: It seems “revenge travel” is taking its toll on the airplanes and the islands! I wonder if the airlines lost a lot of maintenance and control technicians during the pandemic, as Disney did, which is why their rides were breaking down more frequently once things opened back up.
John: You simply cannot operate a piece of equipment as complex as a modern jet and not expect the rare inconvenience….. Flying to Hawaii is incredibly safe; you can thank the airlines for that and the fact that they don’t cross the Pacific if there is an issue that could make it less safe.
Joe: Pilots with inadequate training and less than optimum flying experience coupled with the maintenance done by “who knows who or where” is enough to make someone reconsider their life insurance policy before flying anywhere. Truly worrisome.
Colleen: I worry about Who and Where maintenance on All aircraft is taking place. Do these folks have English as their first language – or at least have guidance/instruction materials in their language? What about adequate supervision? Cost-cutting should stop when lives are put at risk. All of these ‘small’ incidents are bound to turn into at least One Big catastrophe one of these days. This has turned me into a ‘Nervous Nelly’ flyer. I never was before … but I am now. :0(
Maleko: Being a veteran flyer since the ’60s, I was concerned when airlines decided to fly twin-engine jets to The Islands. I even wrote to the FAA about my concerns. They simply referred me to the airlines and said that these planes had been certified for extended overwater flights.
Aloha and Mahalo to the state of Hawaii for many good times and pleasant memories. Sadly, we visitors are no longer welcomed to visit and spend our hard earned dollars in your state. There are many sunny, welcoming island locales around the globe that are hospitable and welcoming. It is unfortunate that you haven’t realized yet that tourism is a necessary life blood to your rapidly crumbling financial infrastructure.
UA 1273 scheduled to leave SFO at 9:05 am Pacifc just unloaded its passengers back to the terminal after failed attempts to fix some electrical problem. Unclear if repair efforts still under way or if finding a new 777. However, schedule departure is now 5:50pm. We will see.
These airlines need to have maintenance done on periodic basis ..now that Covid is on the downside airlines need to properly maintain their aircraft..and don’t cut corners just to make a buck…
Boy I echo all the above comments! This is worrisome! I had my best friends husband tell me that nothing better happen to her when she is with me! Its all out of control, but it still bothers me if a disaster would happen on my time! Just no quality control any where any more!
My flight was canceled and I rescheduled forthe next night. It was from Hawaii to Denver.
The airport staff said I would have to go to San Francisco, would have a layover and then fly to Denver the next day. I opted to reschedule for the next night. That was the 9pm flight from Honolulu direct to Denver on June 10th.
That Houston flight was our flight home in October. United uses their oldest 777s on that route. I’m glad everything turned out OK, and I’m especially glad I wasn’t on the flight!
That flight that diverted back to Honolulu after an hour in the air then went to mainland and turned north to San Fran, it had a medical emergency on board. That’s why they went back to Honolulu. Before leaving Honolulu the second time, it was already known they were going to San Fran, but unsure why they flew towards LAX and then turned north. Source: my wife was on that flight.
United flies their oldest 777s to Hawaii for some.stramge reason. The planes are old, the seats are old, the experience is just old. You don’t hear this happening on the max8 planes they fly to the islands, only the 777-200
Coming home we had an equipment change to a “Polarisized” plane. It’s probably the only time I’ve been happy about a last minute change like that. We were in First Class, so it meant we got the better seating and much better sleep than we would have gotten on a plane with the 8-Across seats. I felt like I won the lottery when I checked us in and saw the equipment change!
Spoke with a crew member on UA t to Houston returning to Honolulu. It was a medical emergency with a passenger. By the time they returned & removed the passenger, crew was not”legal” to work long flight to Houston so, rather than cancel, decision made to operate the flight but had to stop in Sfo to change crews
This was not an aircraft so please do not imply that it was!! It was a passenger medical issue
All maintenance should be done in the USA for America carriers.
Many offshore there maintenance which is subject!!
Who are these people working on planes?
Most major airplane maintenance has been outsourced to third parties located
in Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and China which most mechanics are not FAA certified
and inspections have no teeth. The airlines are all doing this to save money!
It’s a surprise we haven’t had more problems.
Several years ago we experienced the worst that a flight to Kauai brought. We connected in Phoenix, took off and was informed the landing gear would not retract. The plane we were on was too heavy to land, had no way to dump fuel, so we got to circle Phoenix for three hours to burn off fuel.
When we landed they gave us vouchers for pretty bad rubber chicken, told us we would board in 45 minutes, which turned into 2 hours.
When we got to Kauai at 2 AM we did get exceptional treatment all the way to registering at our place of stay.
Quit flying United after several cancellations from SF to Maui due to mechanical problems. This was back in 1990s.
I have no doubt the commercial pilots flying to and from Hawaii are well trained and safe and that the aircraft are maintained to the required standard. Pilots today are taught to err on the side of caution and better safe than sorry. There is a lot of ill informed scare mongering on this subject. Where I take issue is the praise that so many travel sites heap upon United but if you compare the average fleet age of United, American and Delta you see United has older planes. Older planes if they are owned are likely full amortized but the maintenance cots are higher and the incidence of maintenance and repairs is higher. Smart move of Hawaiian to replace their A330’s and unfortunately their 717’s (I love these DC9 derivatives).