United flight UA 776 diverted to Richmond

United Airlines flight UA 776, scheduled from Orlando to Newark, diverted to Richmond International Airport on May 20 as thunderstorms snarled traffic at Newark and other East Coast airports. Flight tracking data showed the Boeing 737-900 eventually continued to Newark and arrived at 2:04 a.m. EDT on May 21. Newark Liberty International Airport posted an alert at 4:32 p.m. on May 20 warning of flight disruptions and delays because of thunderstorms in the area. Nomad Lawyer first reported the Richmond diversion. ### How long was UA 776 delayed? FlightAware data showed UA 776 was scheduled to leave Orlando at 5:10 p.m. EDT on May 20 and arrive in Newark at 8:00 p.m. The aircraft instead departed Orlando at 11:34 p.m. and arrived in Newark at 2:04 a.m. on May 21, putting the flight more than six hours behind schedule. Nomad Lawyer reported the aircraft landed in Richmond at about 11:29 p.m. on May 20 and said the diversion pushed the trip past a three-hour delay threshold before the flight continued north. ### Why did the flight go to Richmond? Newark Liberty Airport said in a public alert on May 20 that flights were facing disruptions and delays because of thunderstorms in the area. The airport notice did not mention UA 776 specifically, but it gave passengers a direct explanation for wider operational problems that day. The Federal Aviation Administration’s National Airspace System status page showed active delay programs and other weather-related traffic management measures on May 21, and outside reports on May 20 described ground stops and major delays at Newark and other East Coast airports as storms moved through the region. ### Was this an emergency landing? Nomad Lawyer’s headline referred to an emergency landing, but the publicly available flight-tracking records reviewed Thursday show a diversion to Richmond followed by a later arrival in Newark. United’s public flight-status page listed UA 776 as a normal flight-status search result, but it did not provide a public explanation for the diversion in the material reviewed. Flight tracking records also show diversions do not always end a trip. In this case, the aircraft appears to have resumed service after the Richmond stop and completed the route into Newark early on May 21. ### What aircraft was involved? Flight tracking sites identified UA 776 on May 20 as a Boeing 737-900 operating between Orlando International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport. Flightradar24 listed the aircraft type as a 739, the industry shorthand for a 737-900, for the May 20 service. United’s route listing for UA 776 also shows the flight as a regular Orlando-to-Newark service, which helps explain why passengers were caught in the broader Newark disruption rather than on an unusual one-off routing. ### How does this fit into the bigger Newark disruption? May 20 was already a difficult day for Newark-bound travelers. Newark Liberty Airport’s alert cited thunderstorms, and broader reporting that day described weather-related ground stops and lengthy delays across Newark, Kennedy and Philadelphia. United has a large hub operation at Newark, which means disruptions there can affect flights arriving from Florida and elsewhere even when the aircraft itself departs from an airport with workable weather. For passengers on UA 776, the next concrete updates were available through United’s flight-status page and airport advisories posted by Newark and Richmond as operations normalized overnight.