by Hugh Morris, The Telegraph, June 15, 2017
A United Airlines flight to Venice was cancelled after a passenger spotted fuel pouring from a wing while the aircraft awaited clearance to take off.
The Boeing 767-300 was about to depart from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey when it was forced to return to gate after someone in a window seat alerted crew to a fuel leak in its left wing.
A video posted on social media shows fuel gushing from the plane onto the apron.
The Twitter user who tweeted the video, known as Rachel, said: "How not one crew member saw this is beyond me. Thank god we were lookin [sic] out the window at take off." United said the aircraft had been taken out of service but did not explain the cause of the fuel leak.
Passengers on the United Flight 170 due to fly on Tuesday evening disembarked at the gate, were given hotel rooms for the night, and rebooked on later flights.
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In a statement provided to Business Insider on Wednesday, United said: "While taxiing to the runway yesterday evening, United flight 170 traveling from Newark to Venice, Italy returned to the gate due to a fuel leak, and was later cancelled. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.
"Our team helped provide customers with hotel accommodations for the night and are working to get them back on their way to Venice."
United spent the first half of 2017 in the spotlight after the PR crisis surrounding a video that showed a man being dragged off one of its flights because his seat was needed to transport crew.
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