United passengers faced an 8-hour-long flight to nowhere when their plane U-turned halfway across the Atlantic

"Passengers on a United Airlines flight from Newark to South Africa faced an unexpected ordeal when the plane turned back over the Atlantic Ocean. However, instead of completing its nearly 8,000-mile journey, the Boeing 787-9 got four hours into the flight and roughly a quarter of the way to Cape Town when it made a U-turn mid-Atlantic and flew back another four hours to the US."

"A United Airlines spokesperson told Business Insider the plane returned "to address a medical issue with a customer." "The flight was met by medical personnel on arrival," the spokesperson said. "Customers were rebooked and will be on their way today." 236 passengers and 14 crew members were on board at the time of the incident. The Newark-Cape Town route is one of United's longest, typically taking nearly 14 hours nonstop."

United Flight 1122 departed Newark Liberty International Airport at 8:32 p.m. local time bound for Cape Town but turned back mid-Atlantic after about four hours. The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, tail number N24988, performed a U-turn roughly a quarter of the way to Cape Town and flew another four hours back to Newark, landing around 5:03 a.m. Monday. The return was to address a medical issue with a customer, and medical personnel met the flight on arrival. 236 passengers and 14 crew were aboard. Customers were rebooked and the service was rescheduled for Monday evening.

Read at Business Insider