Transportation

Tokyo-bound flight turns back to LAX because of unauthorized person — and a model tweets the play by play

Key Points
  • ANA Flight 175 returned to Los Angeles International Airport due to unauthorized person on-board
  • Model Chrissy Teigen tweeted events as they unfolded from the plane
Chrissy Teigen live tweets Tokyo-bound flight turnaround
VIDEO1:0801:08
Chrissy Teigen live tweets Tokyo-bound flight turnaround

A flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo turned back on Tuesday because of an apparent mix-up involving an unauthorized passenger on board — while a fashion model repeatedly tweeted about the episode to 9.2 million her followers.

All Nippon Airways Flight 175 to Tokyo's Narita Airport turned around for Los Angeles International Airport due to an unauthorized person on the plane.

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

News of the diversion gained traction on social media as American model Chrissy Teigen, a passenger on ANA 175, tweeted about it episodically.

They keep saying the person had a United ticket. We are on ANA. So basically the boarding pass scanner is just a beedoop machine that makes beedoop noises that register to nowhere

ANA 175 departed LAX at 11:36 a.m. local time and returned to LAX at 7:33 p.m.

"ANA is researching the situation currently to determine how the passenger boarded the flight," the carrier said. "ANA would like to express its apologies to the passengers for the inconvenience."