People make various arrangements to welcome the New Year. But have you ever thought of entering the year 2026 and flying back to 2025 to celebrate the new year for the second time? Passengers of some special flights including United Airlines faced such a novel experience. By crossing the International Date Line, they got a kind of ‘time travel’ feeling.
According to data from aviation data platform OAG, a total of 14 passenger flights started on January 1, 2026 and reached their destination on December 31, 2025.
Notable among these was Cathay Pacific Flight CX880 (Boeing 777). The flight took off from Hong Kong at 12:34 PM on January 1. After crossing the International Date Line, it landed in Los Angeles at 9:28 pm on December 31. As a result, passengers get to celebrate the New Year twice in the same day—once in the sky and once in Los Angeles.
That is, the passengers woke up in the year 2026 and started their journey, but they landed in a place where the year 2026 had not yet started. As a result, they get a rare opportunity to celebrate ‘Thirty First Night’ and New Year twice in the same year.
This is not a time machine or science fiction story; Geographical location and the International Date Line made such an event possible. This imaginary line extending from the North Pole to the South Pole essentially separates one calendar day from another. When crossing this line over the Pacific Ocean, the time and date of the clock suddenly change dramatically.
When the news of the flight spread online, there was a lot of curiosity and interest among netizens. Many have commented on it as ‘real life time travel’. United Airlines also wished passengers on their social media for this exceptional moment. Moreover, as the flight was slightly delayed due to technical issues, the passengers got more time to celebrate the New Year for the second time.
