LA-Tokyo flight turns back due to 'unauthorized' passenger

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On Tuesday, passengers of an All Nippon Airways (ANA) flight found that, after eight hours of flying, they ended their trip right at the place they started: The Los Angeles International Airport.

Flight 175, which had 226 passengers aboard, was set to arrive at Tokyo’s Narita Airport 11 hours after taking off from Los Angeles at 11:36 a.m. local time. But the jet turned around four hours into its flight as part of the airline’s security procedure which began when crew members learned of an "unauthorized" person on the plane.

Fight 175's path. /Screenshot

The extra person on the flight was an American and his brother, who both booked separate flights going to Tokyo, according to CNN. The two brothers have very similar names and one of them had chosen ANA as his airline.

In a statement, ANA expressed their apologies to the passengers and said they were investigating how the mistake occurred, CNBC reported.

“During the flight, the cabin crew became aware that one of the passengers boarded the incorrect flight and notified the pilot,” the statement said. “As part of the airline’s security procedure, the pilot in command decided to return to the originating airport, where the passenger was disembarked.”

Though the statement did not give more details of the incident, American supermodel Chrissy Teigen tweeted details of the ordeal in real-time .

Screenshot from Twitter/@raffywu

Teigen and her husband, singer John Legend, were aboard the flight. Luckily, they finally arrived at Japan on an alternative flight on Wednesday afternoon.

The model responded to ANA’s apology tweet on Wednesday, yet questioned how a passenger could get on the wrong flight and go unnoticed for hours. She also asked why all the passengers had to turn back because of this one person’s mistake.

Teigen responded to ANA's apology on Twitter. /chrissyteigen

Teigen tweeted to question the practicability of ANA's boarding pass machine. /@chrissyteigen

The case is still under investigation. Buck Rodger, a commercial airline pilot and president of Aero Consulting Experts, told CNN that it is rare for a passenger to get past the scanners, flight announcements, gate agents and cabin crew of a modern flight.

The expert, however, added “But it can happen.”

Screenshots from Twitter. /@chrissyteigen

This is not the first time passengers boarded the wrong plane. In August, British man Samuel Jankowsky ended up in Las Vegas instead of his home Essex, thousands of miles away, even though airline staff reportedly checked his boarding pass three times.