Disappointed Passengers Arrive in Unexpected Year on Anticipated Time-Travel Flight
Passengers on a United Airlines flight expecting a time-traveling experience for New Year's were left disappointed when they found themselves in the wrong year of 2024
Passengers on a United Airlines flight were disappointed when their hopes to travel back in time for New Year's in 2024 were dashed. Flight UA200 was set to leave Guam at 7:35 a.m. on January 1, 2024, and arrive in Honolulu, Hawaii at 6:50 p.m. on December 31, 2023, effectively taking passengers back a year due to crossing time zones.
"United Airlines tweeted earlier in the week, 'You only live once but you can celebrate New Year's Eve twice!' In an Instagram post about Flight UA200, they added, 'Time travel is real.' Time zone hopping for New Year's isn't new - every year, a few flights give passengers the opportunity to re-do their celebrations, with airline crews sometimes marking the occasion multiple times on a single route."
Passengers on UA200 were disappointed when the flight was delayed, ultimately departing Guam at 1:49 p.m. on January 1 and arriving in Honolulu at 12:34 a.m. on January 1, causing them to miss the countdown. Many passengers expressed their frustration on social media.
"Such a shame that this great idea got postponed! I was actually meant to be on that flight. Looks like the double new year won't be happening anymore," one person commented on the original United Airlines tweet.
"I intentionally booked this flight just for this event," another comment stated. "But now I've received a delay notification and it looks like we won't be arriving until 1/1."
The airline provided rebooking assistance to passengers on X. Meanwhile, passengers on other flights, such as Cathay Pacific's CX872 and All Nippon Airways' NH106, had better luck with punctual departures and arrivals. For example, CX872 departed from Hong Kong just after 1 a.m. on January 1 and arrived in San Francisco at 8:22 p.m. on December 31. NH106 departed from Tokyo at 12:48 a.m. on January 1 and landed in Los Angeles at 5:12 p.m. on December 31.
