A United Airlines passenger traveling with his family died after falling ill in the cabin of a Tokyo-to-Denver flight, an emergency that forced the Boeing 787-9 off its route and down in Seattle.
About six and a half hours into the journey, the man’s skin turned “deep purple” and he stopped responding, a witness said. The crew reported an onboard medical emergency, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Three Firefighters Stepped In
Help came from inside the cabin. Three firefighters who were traveling as passengers reached the man and worked on him as the widebody turned toward Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, administering oxygen and intravenous fluids while the jet descended.
The aircraft was carrying 245 passengers and 12 crew. Paramedics met it after it landed, and the flight later continued on to Denver.
An Earlier Death on a United Flight
A passenger has died aboard a United flight before. Boston-bound Flight 1888 left Houston around 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 26, 2018, and diverted to Washington Dulles International Airport, landing at 11:49 p.m., the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said. Medics who met the plane on the runway found one passenger dead. Everyone else was bused to the terminal and put on another flight, which touched down at Logan Airport around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, June 27, 2018.
“We are saddened to learn that our customer passed away,” the airline said in a statement at the time, adding that medical personnel met the aircraft at the gate.
Diversions, Injuries and a Lawsuit
Medical emergencies are not the only thing that has pulled United jets out of the sky. Nearly 40 people were hurt when a Boeing 787-800 suddenly lost altitude on Flight 613 from Lagos, Nigeria, to Washington, D.C. The plane had left Murtala Muhammed International Airport shortly before midnight on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, and about 93 minutes later a sudden descent sent baggage, trays of food and other items flying through the cabin.
The flight returned to Lagos and landed safely around 3:22 a.m. Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. Four passengers and two crew members were hospitalized with serious injuries and later released; another 27 passengers and five crew members reported minor injuries. United attributed the turnback to a technical issue, said turbulence was not the cause and said it was working with aviation authorities in the U.S. and Nigeria to determine what happened. FlightRadar data showed the same aircraft had been diverted on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, during a Lagos-to-Washington flight after dropping some 1,000 feet about 89 minutes in.
The 787 had already drawn scrutiny. The Federal Aviation Administration reviewed the model after a rapid midflight descent on a Latam Airlines flight in March 2024, which investigators traced to a pilot’s seat sliding forward into the control column.
Other diversions have been the work of passengers. In September 2026, a United flight from Milan to Newark, N.J., put down in Bangor, Maine, after Kristina Kedysheva, a Russian citizen, allegedly bit and kicked a flight attendant who declined to serve her more alcohol, court documents say. Five crew members and passengers helped subdue her, and she was arrested by the FBI, U.S. Air Marshals and local police and charged with interference with flight crew members and attendants. The Department of Homeland Security said it lodged an immigration detainer for her after she assaulted two people on the flight.
Years earlier, two passengers aboard a United Boeing 777 whose engine blew apart after takeoff from Denver on Feb. 20, 2021, scattering debris across Colorado neighborhoods, sued the airline on Friday, April 16, 2021. Joseph McGinley of Honolulu and Jonathan Strawn of Sioux City, Iowa, said they suffered personal, emotional and financial injuries. No injuries were reported on the plane or on the ground. The National Transportation Safety Board said microscopic examination supported early suspicions that wear and tear caused a fan blade to snap inside the engine.
In the Tokyo case, the man’s body was transferred to the King County Medical Examiner after the diverted jet reached Seattle.