Mechanical glitch and medical problem force plane back to airport -- twice

Source: Associated Press

Publication date: Mar 11, 2000

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A mechanical glitch followed by a medical emergency forced a United Airlines flight back to Los Angeles -- twice -- before it finally arrived in Hawaii.

The flight departed Los Angeles International Airport for the third time at 9:52 p.m. Friday and arrived in Maui around 1 a.m. Saturday, "about 13 hours late," said an airline reservation desk employee who declined to be named.

Flight 45, carrying 254 passengers, had departed LAX at 8:10 a.m. and was more than two hours into the flight when a pressurization problem forced it to turn around, passengers told the Los Angeles Times.

A second Boeing 767 was located and the passengers took off again, but that plane was forced to return two hours later, at around 5:30 p.m.

Passengers were just getting settled on the second flight when they heard the announcement that the captain was turning back because of a medical emergency, said Tatiana Regalado, a frustrated traveler from Simi Valley.

"People were shocked, you could hear them catch their breath. They kind of looked at each other, like, `Is this really happening?' Then, people started to get angry," she said.

The emergency, Regalado said, turned out to be a first-class passenger with a swelling finger that was being cut by her ring.

Airline spokeswoman Susana Leyva confirmed the flight's two false starts on Friday, but said she could not specify what mechanical and medical problems forced the returns.

Publication date: Mar 11, 2000 ) 2000, NewsReal, Inc.

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