Back in Time! A Hawaiian Airlines Flight Took Off in 2018 — and Landed in 2017
Passengers on Hawaiian Airlines’s flight 446 experienced a bit of time travel to start off their new year.
The flight, which traveled between Auckland, New Zealand, and Honolulu, Hawaii, was scheduled to depart at 11:55 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 31, 2017. However, because of a 10-minute delay, the flight didn’t end up taking off until 12:05 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 1, 2018.
Due to the time difference between New Zealand and Hawaii — the former is 23 hours ahead of the latter — passengers ended up landing at 10:16 a.m., back on Dec. 31 in 2017.
In between New Zealand and Hawaii is the international date line, which explains the hefty time difference between the two locales. Sam Sweeney, a transportation reporter for Washington, D.C., station WJLA, was the first to notice the sci-fi-esque take-off and landing times of the flight.
Because of an unexpected delay, Hawaiian Airlines flight 446 took off in 2018 and will land in 2017. #timetravel pic.twitter.com/A5vesXmjqq
— Sam Sweeney (@SweeneyABC) December 31, 2017
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Once Sweeney tweeted out his discovery, people took notice — and had quite a few questions.
Gotta wonder if the crew ran 10 extra minutes of diagnostic checks to make this happen.
— Matt DeCample (@DeCample) December 31, 2017
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While others couldn’t help but make plenty of pop culture jokes, from a confused Dr. Phil to Lost to Back to the Future.
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— Justin Drawbaugh (@jdraw8) December 31, 2017
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— Loco Goose (@CrazyGoose) December 31, 2017
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— Ben Skiba (@benskiba14) December 31, 2017
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— Chris Chan (@tchrischan) December 31, 2017
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And for the passengers, well, 2018 just became the year so nice that they greeted it twice.