Smelly Cabin Forces United Airlines Boeing 787 Athens Diversion

Credit: Simple Flying Published Nov 9, 2026, 12:48 PM EST Louis is a military historian and the staff writer for History of War magazine, a leading military history monthly. He also has an interest in private and commercial aviation. Sign in to your Simple Flying account A United Airlines flight from Ben Gurion Airport (TLV) in Tel Aviv to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) has been diverted to Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos (ATH) after an unusual odor was reported onboard. The decision was made while the Boeing 787-9, registered N24993, was approximately 170 nautical miles (314 km) from Athens. The aircraft landed safely 40 minutes later. United is arranging for a different aircraft to take the passengers to their final destination. The Odor Is Connected To An In-Flight Technical Issue The aircraft took off from TLV at 12:45 AM local time. It had a block time of 12 hours and 50 minutes. Air Live has reported that the pilot broadcast a squawk code 7700 to air traffic control due to an unspecified technical problem, requesting an immediate diversion. It is assumed that this technical problem is related to the smell in the cabin, although the exact origin of the smell and its character remain unconfirmed. However, Israel National News has claimed a "fire scare," which appears to have been neither confirmed nor denied by the airline. The technical problem occurred about 90 minutes into the flight and while the aircraft was cruising at 32,000 feet (9,750 m). Simple Flying has contacted United for further comment. The carrier has issued a statement, as reported in the Irish Star, stating: "United flight 168 from Tel Aviv to Newark diverted to Athens and landed safely to address an odor in the cabin. Passengers deplaned normally, and we are arranging for a different aircraft to take them to Newark." The Jet's Flight Path Credit: Simple Flying On our flight tracker, the aircraft can be seen flying north-west over the Mediterranean Sea, before circling once and landing at ATH. The aircraft had 230 passengers and 13 crew members onboard, all of whom made it safely to Athens less than an hour after pilots told air traffic control of the problem. There are no reports of any passengers or crew requiring medical assistance. The aircraft involved, the United Dreamliner N24993, is scheduled to complete a route from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (SYD) tomorrow. This will obviously not be possible while the aircraft is grounded, and it isn't yet known which replacement aircraft will operate this flight. The table below shows the five flights completed by N24993 before the odor aboard UA168. It uses data from FlightRadar24 and starts with the most recent flight: Date Flight Number Origin Destination November 7 UA167 EWR TLV November 7 UA17 London Heathrow Airport (LHR) EWR November 6 UA27 Denver International Airport (DEN) LHR November 6 UA181 Frankfurt Airport (FRA) DEN November 5 UA182 DEN FRA United says it is working to source a replacement aircraft to allow its passengers to complete their flight to Newark. However, it is not clear exactly which aircraft will carry out the replacement flight, when it will arrive, and how long passengers will have to wait in Athens. This is not the first time this fall that a United Boeing aircraft has suffered an incident due to an odor onboard. In early October, a United Boeing 757-200 flying from Dublin Airport (DUB) to EWR was forced to return to DUB due to reports of a fuel smell in the cabin. Following an overweight landing, multiple passengers required medical assistance. Examinations found no indication of a fuel link, but multiple members of the crew and passengers reported suffering headaches. The overweight landing occurred because a 757 cannot dump its fuel, and the aircraft only spent 50 minutes in the sky. Due to this issue, United canceled the flight. Passengers were rebooked onto the earliest available alternative flight. Over 24 hours after the incident, the 757, registered N14118, was still on the ground in Dublin.