A United Airlines 787 Dreamliner en route to London diverted to Chicago after an entertainment unit caught fire, sparking swift action from flight attendants to extinguish the flames.
United Airlines 787-9 Diverts To Due To Entertainment System Fire
The incident occurred on Saturday, February 1, 2025 on a Denver (DEN) to London (LHR) flight operated by a Boeing 787-9. For reasons that are not clear, an in-flight entertainment system in business class “popped,” began to smoke, then burst into flames.
One passenger who witnessed the scene onboard shared on reddit:
Flight attendants were literally pouring water bottles on it for several minutes…The pilot immediately announced we were being diverted. We were in Chicago for a few hours before continuing on our way. It was pretty scary.
Another passenger on the flight shed further light on what occurred:
The seat was 12B, and I was right next to it. The person in 12B heard a pop, and their entertainment system went down. The flight attendants tore the seat apart to find the fire, which smoldered a bit before really flaring.
…They dumped ALL of the extinguishers, which is why they also dumped water.
Flight attendants were fantastic and wrote a wonderfully kind note to 12B, thanking them for alerting them and saving hundreds of lives.
While saving hundreds of lives may be a stretch, a similar fire onboard the ill-fated Swissair 111 in 1998 killed all 215 passengers and 14 crew members on board the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 after flames spread to the aircraft’s flammable insulation.
The flight diverted to Chicago and was on the ground for a few hours before resuming to London.
Per the FAA:
United Airlines Flight 27 landed safely at Chicago O’Hare International Airport around 8:35 p.m. local time on Saturday, Feb. 1, after the crew reported smoke in the cabin. The Boeing 787 departed from Denver International Airport and was headed to London Heathrow Airport. The FAA will investigate.
Kudos to the FAs (I guess? I thought electrical fires were not treated with water…) and kudos to the passenger for speaking up when his IFE system imploded!
Better safe than sorry .
Might be time to Ban the stupid in flight entertainment systems , which are not entertaining in the least .
So perhaps not a stretch at all…
“While saving hundreds of lives may be a stretch, a similar fire onboard the ill-fated Swissair 111 in 1998 killed all 215 passengers and 14 crew members on board the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 after flames spread to the aircraft’s flammable insulation.”
You could’ve just started that off with, “I’m gonna contradict myself here – “ lol… like what? How is that a stretch? Anti-FA rhetoric per usual, it’s like, it just makes you seethe for any kudos to go to the FA. What is your vendetta? So odd.
“ Kudos to the FAs (I guess? I thought electrical fires were not treated with water…)”
It doesn’t matter what you think. There is a reason these flight attendants went to training for almost 2 months straight, training for emergency procedures every single day. The manual specifically outlines entertainment system fire procedures:
“ Immediately douse with a fire extinguisher or any non-flammable liquid. If a Halon / BrX (red) extinguisher is used, immediately follow up with water. Use plenty of liquids to ensure contents have cooled and will not re-ignite. 7. If smoke re-appears, continue using water/non-flammable liquids.“
They are qualified to deal with these situations, you are not. It’s okay to commend them.
Thank you.
Nice info Trina, thanks for sharing.
I wouldn’t read too much into motives for Matt being snarky, he’s a snarky writer at baseline
HA! Thank you for acknowledging you have TWO MONTHS of training. I think EMTs have more. Yet you expect to be treated (and paid) like Nurses or others than went to school for years….
You really thought you did something with that comment, didn’t you? Where did I ever propose, in my comment, that FAs are medical gurus and should be paid for this skill as aptly as nurses are, and where did I propose that EMTs don’t deserve higher pay? In any case, if you’re calling an EMT or a nurse when an electrical fire breaks out inflight, good luck – I hope they’re savvy enough to know to pull the circuit breakers and know where to find them, too.
The seemingly high pay scale (which isn’t comparable, considering we don’t have regular 35-40 hour work weeks and most are credited around 75-90 hours a month) is because it takes a certain amount of patience to put up with completely brain-dead, self-absorbed cretins like yourself. I have worked in law offices, in retail, in restaurants, and there is absolutely nothing that compares to the obliviousness, denseness, and selfishness of the traveling public. I’m put together enough to know how to brush your nonsense off, thank my lucky stars that i’m not stuck in a typical 9-to-5 brick and mortar building and will never have to see your face again – so I feign concern and put on a smile. Most people wouldn’t last a week in this job, considering how the traveling public is today, whilst being away from home & loved ones. This is why I get paid well.
I’m booking Europe for the fall one thing is clear will not fly a 789 and prefer AB 350 now. Sorry Boeing I few you in the military but today ? Meh
That’s funny. You do realize the entertainment system has nothing to do with Boeing?
Is it so difficult to pay a compliment and not be snarky? Guess not.
I guess the passenger in 12B could just have ignored the smoke and flames and NOT mentioned it to anyone? 😉
Thermal runaway fires need to be treated by water.
Flight Attendants treated fire properly.
As for the 787 inflight entertainment fire, the article clearly states all available extinguishers were used and THEN they used water. It’s certainly appropriate to use whatever is on hand after you use the proper extinguishers including water. Should they have have just watched the plane burn? Smarten up!!
Tearing the seat apart, discharging ALL fire extinguishers before you have located the fire’s origin, then using water bottles on electrical. Sounds more like panic than professionalism. But glad it turned out OK.
Agreed. This doesn’t sound like protocol was followed. The actions of the cabin crew should be investigated by the NTSB.
Exactly this. I really question their training, and if they are even paying attention. The whole, “we are primarily there for your safety” argument, to explain why they give poor/no service, really doesn’t hold up.
By your comments, I assume you never trained to put out an in-flight fire.. A fire behind a panel would require you to somehow gain access to it, hence “breaking it apart”, in fact there are tools to do it, and if all fails, there is an axe for that purpose onboard. I’d rather have my crew break panels, seats and whatnot to gain access to a fire than wait for the fire to burn long enough and spread to them. Doubtful though they used ALL the fire ex’s (how would a passenger know literally every fire ex was used anyways?) as both HAFEX and BCD/Halon are very efficient, but since they’re designed to only remove the oxygen, not the “heat”, you have to soak with water, and no, that is not an issue even with the electrical systems in the seat since the first (or at most second) step after locating a fire is to pull the circuit breakers. Granted, I can only compare to the SOP (“protocol”) at my current (and previous) airlines, but it sounds like they DID in fact follow procedures more or less to the letter. There are other equipment as well (at least at my airline), such as PED Containment Bags where loose electronics can be placed, but nonetheless, even in the bag, it has to soak in water. Hope this helps clear things up, and don’t worry, the NTSB would most likely have a look at this incident regardless. Question now is, how would YOU have put it out?
It’s really tiring seeing non-FAs saying stuff acting lkke they know procedure when they have no idea what they’re talking about. In training FAs are taught to “aggressively attempt to locate and gain access to the source of smoke”…maybe the seat does need to be torn apart to gain access to the entertainment system. FAs are literally taught to remove cabin panels if needed. Water is not the preferred extinguisher for an electrical fire but they did use halon extinguishers first…possibly the crew felt like they were covering their bases because SOP states for a personal electronic device fire, you need to cool the device by pouring non-flammable liquids. Even if you use a halon, you still need to follow up with water/liquid.
12B? There’s no seat 12B on any United wide-body aircraft!
Hmm…hopefully not a made-up story!
Not made up. It was actually seat 12D , which is across the isle from 12 A . So easy mistake . It was very real. Very scary. The person in 12A saw everything and their version of events is correct. There was no smoke just smell of burning when FA’s were called, they thoroughly searched around the area to try locate the source, cockpit was called and said nothing was showing up on their instruments. FA’s pulled cushion and covers off , then saw under the seat the fire. They used all red fire extinguisher and brown and only after that was water used. Very lucky it was caught so early . Because if it was that hard to get under control at that stage if it hadn’t been noticed for another few minutes, not sure water would have worked. Very lucky.
Hi Elizabeth! Thanks for providing this insight. Glad you are okay!
Passenger was probably just confused with the seat lettering. I can see how it could be easy to assume the second seat is “B.”
Not the first 787 to catch fire in flight and I don’t suppose it will be the last given the Boeing safety record.