- United Airlines passengers endured a 14-hour "flight to nowhere" after their plane turned around.
- The flight to Tel Aviv, Israel, was rerouted after Hamas launched attacks on Israel from Gaza on Saturday.
United Airlines passengers en route from San Francisco to Tel Aviv, Israel, endured a 14-hour "flight to nowhere" after the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched surprise attacks on Israel from Gaza on Saturday.
Data from the flight tracking website FlightAware indicates the Boeing 777 aircraft left California at 8:26 p.m. Friday for the nearly 7,500-mile journey. The flight had originally been scheduled to land in Tel Aviv at 8 p.m. local time Saturday.
About halfway through the flight, as Hamas attacked, the plane made a U-turn over Greenland and headed back to San Francisco, landing at 10:23 a.m. local time Saturday.
"The safety of our customers and employees is our top priority," a United spokesperson told Insider on Monday. "We operated two scheduled flights out of Tel Aviv late Saturday and early Sunday and accommodated our customers, crews, and employee travelers who were at the airport."
The two other flights were from the airline's Washington, DC, and Newark, New Jersey, hubs — both completing their journeys to Tel Aviv and departing back to the US late Saturday and early Sunday.
"Our Tel Aviv flights will remain suspended until conditions allow them to resume," United told Insider.
Dozens of airlines have canceled flights to Israel as the fighting continues, suggested by data from the aviation analytics company Cirium that was shared with Insider. Among the bunch are carriers such as United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, Lufthansa, and Air France.
According to a Monday update on its website, the Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was still operating flights as scheduled, explaining it "operates in accordance with the instructions of the Israeli security forces."
The British carriers British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, however, both told Insider on Monday they were continuing to serve Israel. Each said it was closely monitoring the situation and had instated a flexible booking policy.
"The safety and security of our customers and our people always comes first and our flying program to Israel remains under constant review," Virgin told Insider. "We would advise anyone booked to travel to check their flight status on the website before traveling to the airport."
United's unexpected detour is not the first time a plane had to turn back to its origin due to unforeseen circumstances.
In January, heavy rain and flooding in New Zealand forced an Auckland-bound Emirates jet to U-turn mid-flight and return to Dubai. The entire journey lasted about 13 hours.
A month later, passengers on an Air New Zealand flight spent 16 hours in the sky after an electrical fire broke out at New York's JFK International Airport, forcing the plane to turn back to Auckland.