United passenger’s attempts to sneak into Business Class diverts Taiwan flight

The passenger repeatedly had to be ejected from the Polaris business class cabin on the United Airlines plane.

A flight to Taiwan diverted back to San Francisco after a passenger reportedly made repeated attempts to “upgrade” himself.

United Airlines Flight 871 made a sharp detour back to its origin, just two hours after takeoff on Thursday, with the airline blaming the emergency detour on a “disruptive passenger”.

United said “law enforcement officials met the aircraft on arrival and removed the passenger,” confirming that the service was able to continue on to Taiwan, departing later that evening. However, specifics of the passenger’s behaviour were not detailed.

Travellers on the flight said an economy passenger kept trying to access the plane’s Business Class suite.

Statements made to aviation website Live and Let’s Fly claimed that the near-full Boeing 777 was delayed by over eight hours by the “Category 2″ passenger alert.

UA871 made a sharp return for San Francisco on Thursday after an unruly passenger incident, two hours into the journey. Photo / Flightradar 24

Business passengers in United’s Polaris-Class claimed that the man appeared to be “under the influence of something” and was trying to gain access to the premium cabin classes during catering service.

“He kept coming up to Polaris during the initial drink service,” one passenger wrote to FlyerTalk. “Flight attendant told him to return to his seat. He walked back but then a few moments later, he’s back up in the Business cabin.”

Another traveller in economy said they were asked to “keep an eye on the guy”.

“Things calmed down once he got seated,” they wrote, adding that the crew had made the right decision to divert, despite the delay.

A week earlier, another United Flight made an emergency stop in Chicago, after a business-class passenger became enraged over a lack of meal choices.

UA20 from Houston to Amsterdam made a three-hour diversion to O’Hare International Airport where the unruly passenger was met by airport police and the plane refuelled.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) this year reported a 47 per cent increase in unruly passengers last year, compared with the year before. One incident every 568 flights was reported.