Australians stranded on Pacific island after engine issue grounds plane

Passengers onboard a United Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Sydney will be spending their New Year’s Eve in the middle of the Pacific after their plane was forced to make an emergency landing on Saturday morning, AEDT.

United Airlines flight 839 left Los Angeles just before midnight, local time, on Friday, but the flight was diverted to Pago Pago, the capital of American Samoa, shortly before 4am AEDT due to a reported issue with the right engine on the Boeing 787-9 plane.

“Today’s flight diverted to Pago Pago to address a mechanical issue,” a United airline spokesperson said. “We’re making use of our facilities, including available hotel options, to accommodate our customers, and will fly in a new aircraft to the island, so they can finish their trip to Sydney soon.”

The rescue flight is expected to land in Sydney around 7.15am on Sunday, almost 24 hours after its scheduled arrival time.

Kayled Gonzalez, a Venezuelan national living in Australia, said her partner was sharing a room in Pago Pago with two fellow passengers he had just met. She said the locals had been helpful, but she had so far been unable to communicate with the airline’s customer service in Australia.

“It was a very scary moment,” she said. “He’s now missed his connecting flight to Gold Coast and will miss NYE with his family.”

Another Twitter user said they had tried to contact United Airlines about their son and granddaughter on the flight, and was asked to provide a booking reference number so they could book them onto an alternative flight.