Passengers on United’s ‘time travel’ flight miss New Year’s Eve after plane lands in wrong year
(NEXSTAR) – Passengers flying with United Airlines on New Year’s missed their opportunity to “time travel” back to Dec. 31 after flight didn’t go back in time as far as they had hoped.
The flight, which departed from Guam on the morning of Jan. 1, was scheduled to cross the International Date Line and land in Honolulu on the evening of Dec. 31 — allowing passengers to celebrate New Year’s Eve for a second time in Hawaii.
“Time travel is real,” United Airlines said of the flight, according to an Instagram post shared a few days before New Year’s. “You only live once, but you can celebrate New Year’s Eve twice!” the carrier added.
Data from FlightAware, however, shows that the plane ended up leaving more than six hours late — and landed in Honolulu at 12:34 a.m. on Jan. 1, and not on the evening of Dec. 31 as scheduled.
A representative for United Airlines did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday. A representative for the carrier, meanwhile, told one would-be passenger on Twitter to share their flight information for “rebooking assistance.”
Prior to the delay, many of United’s followers on Instagram and Twitter seemed to be receptive to the idea, with several claiming they would love to board a “time travel” flight themselves, and one even calling it a “bucket list” wish.
“Much better than repeating a regular Tuesday when I took this flight,” another Instagram user joked.