This week, United’s nonstop flights to Rome from SFO were unlucky: two flights had to be diverted after takeoff for various reasons.
On Tuesday, Flight 507 had to be diverted to Sacramento due to a technical problem. As NBC Bay Area reported, a passenger on that flight said the pilot informed passengers that one of the engines had overheated and had to be shut down so that an emergency landing could be made.
The plane landed safely and was examined at Sacramento International Airport.
The passengers on this Boeing 777 were reportedly bussed back to SFO and rebooked on other flights – United offers several daily connections from SFO to Rome, but only one nonstop flight in the summer, departing at 4:30 p.m.
The same Flight 507, presumably on a different jet, had problems of a different kind on Wednesday. As NBC Bay Area reports, the plane had to make an emergency landing in Edmonton, Canada, due to a passenger’s medical issue. But instead of continuing on to Rome, the plane returned to SFO and the passengers were scheduled to depart for Rome again on Thursday.
It is possible that some of the passengers who were diverted to Sacramento on Tuesday were rebooked on this flight, disrupting their travel for the second day in a row.
These mishaps follow months of mechanical problems on Boeing jets operated by United and other airlines, some of which led to unexpected diversions.
In March, a United flight from SFO to Paris had engine problems and had to be diverted to Denver. A day later, a United flight from Frankfurt to SFO had to be diverted because the toilet overflowed.
In early March, a United flight from San Francisco to Japan lost a tire during takeoff and had to be diverted to LAX on an emergency basis. And in February, a United flight to Boston had to be diverted to Denver after a piece of the wing flap came loose sometime after takeoff, possibly due to a previous bird strike incident.
Previously: United Airlines jet cuts off the wing of another United jet at SFO
