Passengers on Cathay Pacific flight CX872 departed Hong Kong at 1:00 a.m. on January 1 and arrived in San Francisco at 8:22 p.m. on December 31, 2023.
Countries around the world will not welcome 2024 at the same time due to time zone differences. Many airlines take advantage of the time zone difference to sell "back in time" flights, taking passengers from the new year back to the old year to celebrate New Year's Eve and New Year twice.
Passengers on Cathay Pacific flight CX872 left Hong Kong at 1:00 a.m. on January 1 and arrived in San Francisco, USA at 8:22 p.m. on December 31, in time to welcome New Year's Eve and New Year's Eve again.
The second flight to do this was All Nippon Airways' NH106, which departed from Tokyo, Japan, at 12:48 on January 1, and landed in Los Angeles, USA, at 17:12 on December 31.
A Cathay Pacific flight. Photo: One world
There were less fortunate passengers who missed New Year's Eve a second time. United Airlines Flight UA200 was scheduled to depart Guam at 7:35 a.m. on January 1 and land in Honolulu, Hawaii, at 6:50 p.m. on December 31, 2023. The airline previously promoted the time-travel flight with an Instagram post. "You only live once, but you can celebrate New Year's Eve twice. Time travel is real," United Airlines wrote.
The flight was eventually delayed for six hours, departing Guam at 1:49 p.m. on January 1 and landing in Honolulu at 12:34 p.m. on January 1. Passengers expressed disappointment that the airline could not make their fun idea a reality. "Great idea but unfortunately the flight was delayed. I missed out on celebrating the new year twice," one passenger complained on the airline's X (the new name for Twitter).
"I booked this flight specifically to celebrate New Year's twice," another passenger added in frustration. Others took solace in the fact that passengers on Flight UA200 were given the chance to turn back time by experiencing the 12:34 moment twice.
Countries around the world keep time based on the International Date Line, an imaginary line that marks the start and end of a day. As a rule, countries closer to the left of the line start the day earliest. Countries closer to the right start the day later.
The island nation of Kiribati is the first place in the world to welcome the New Year. The two uninhabited islands of Baker and Howland in the United States are the latest to welcome the New Year, nearly a day after Kiribati. Hawaii welcomes the New Year 30 minutes before Baker and Howland, while Hong Kong and Tokyo are among the top destinations to welcome the New Year first.
Anh Minh (According to CNN )
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