United Airlines Boeing 777-200ER Returns to Incheon After Flight Crew Contracts Food Poisoning

Summary

United Airlines Flight 806 diverted back to ICN due to severe food poisoning among crew members.
Passengers were notified of the diversion by an announcement made by a crewmember who sounded extremely ill.
The official reason for the diversion is listed as ‘other matters,’ while crew members became sick after eating food, likely before boarding.

On May 19th, 2024, United Airlines Flight 806 returned to its departure airport after its cabin and flight crew had severe food poisoning. Airline representatives have not been forthcoming with information on the nature of the issue, only stating that the flight had to divert due to a medical issue.

Simple Flying has contacted United Airlines for a comment on the flight and the circumstances surrounding it.

Return to ICN

United Airlines Flight UA806 is regularly scheduled to fly from South Korea’s Incheon International Airport (ICN) to San Francisco International Airport (SFO). The flight usually takes 10 hours and is operated using a Boeing 777-200ER (registered N277UA).

Photo: Flightradar24

On May 19th, the aircraft took off from Icheon as scheduled, departing at 11:29 a.m. local time. According to Flighradar24.com, after flying for two hours and seven minutes, the aircraft began to divert from its flight path over Iwanuma, Japan. The 777 remained at a cruising altitude for most of its two-hour flight back to ICN. The aircraft landed safely and without incident. The flight lasted a total of four hours and 21 minutes.

Before the diversion, a flight attendant made an announcement notifying the passengers of the diversion. The announcement, which is machine-translated, is as follows:

“Our plane returned to Incheon today. The flight attendants and pilots were very sick after eating the food, so there was no other way. As soon as the plane arrives at the gate, the ground crew will assist passengers with their travel plans. We apologize once again.”

In a recording posted on Instagram by one of the passengers, the flight attendant can be heard struggling to speak. Passengers said that the aircraft shook violently around the time of the announcement.

Medical issues or food poisoning?

Korean News outlet Chosun published that the diversion was due to “mass food poisoning among the pilots and crew.” However, the official reason for the return was listed as ‘other matters.’ United Airlines representatives did not comment on the nature of the diversion to passengers and mentioned medical issues in a statement to the San Francisco publication SFGATE.

Photo: United Airlines

While there is no official word on if the issue was food poisoning, the announcement clearly says that the crew became sick after eating food. It is unclear if the meal was consumed on the flight. However, the passengers did not experience any similar issues. The meals served to the crew differ from those served to the passengers on many airlines.

A more likely explanation is that the crew could also have consumed bad food before boarding, as the flight was only in the air for two hours when the announcement was made. This is also the consensus in the comments section of the Instagram post.

United Airlines representatives said that the passengers on Flight 806 were given food vouchers and accommodation while they were awaiting to be rebooked on other flights to San Francisco.