A popular summertime United Airlines route that flies nonstop from San Francisco to Rome is having a rough week.
On Tuesday, the flight from San Francisco International Airport to Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport was diverted to Sacramento due to an issue with the aircraft. The following day, another United flight on the same route was forced to stop in Canada due to a health problem with a passenger onboard. And then on Thursday, the same flight was outright canceled due to the diversions.
United announced in April that it was reviving its seasonal, nonstop transatlantic service from SFO to Rome. The flights are daily and use Boeing 777 aircraft to haul more than 200 passengers at a time. But this week’s situation illustrates how one problem in air travel can often lead to another as flights are stacked after each other like dominos.
On Aug. 13, United flight 507 to Rome was diverted to Sacramento “to address a mechanical issue,” a spokesperson for the airline told SFGATE. A television station in Sacramento shot aerial footage of the flight’s 148 passengers departing the aircraft using a stair car on the tarmac. United said it flew travelers back to San Francisco, where they were rebooked on a new flight.
The next day, UA 507 to Rome was partway through its journey when it diverted to Edmonton, Alberta, “to address a passenger medical issue,” the airline’s spokesperson said. The 265 passengers returned to SFO early Thursday morning.
To accommodate the more than 300 passengers from the two flights, United canceled one of its flights on Aug. 15 “so we could use the crew and aircraft for the extra section that was added for later today,” the spokesperson explained. United added UA3035-15 to carry passengers to Rome, and according to FlightAware, the red-eye departs just before 5 p.m. on Thursday.