United Airlines flight with 157 passengers got diverted to Ireland after a laptop became stuck in a business-class seat

PYOK reported that after landing, engineers were able to free the laptop from the seat — but the flight crew had reached their maximum time on the clock, so they couldn’t fly the 157 passengers onward to Chicago.

In a statement shared with Business Insider, a United spokesperson said the flight diverted to “address a potential safety risk caused by a laptop being stuck in an inaccessible location.”

They added that they provided hotels for customers and arranged for an onward flight to Chicago on Monday.

The Boeing 767 is scheduled to take off from Shannon more than 24 hours after it landed, per Flightradar24.

Laptops or phones getting wedged in a seat isn’t that unusual — and airline safety videos often warn passengers about it. They can pose a safety risk because the lithium batteries can catch fire — the same reason travelers are told to pack such devices in their carry-on rather than checked luggage.

Continuing the flight over the Atlantic may have been risky because if the laptop did catch fire there wouldn’t be a convenient point to land.

In March, a Breeze Airways flight from Los Angeles to Pittsburgh had to make an emergency landing after a passenger’s laptop caught fire, releasing smoke into the cabin.

Have you had trouble on a flight recently? Reach out to this reporter at psyme@businessinsider.com