--- description: An elderly woman delayed a flight in China for five hours when she tossed coins at the aircraft, apparently as a prayer for flight safety title: Woman in China Delays Flight By Throwing Coins at Engine image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd581b75e9a4f57b5/6988d3a297cdff418a6b15f0/gettyimages-493875166.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [China](/tag/china/) ## China Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # An Elderly Woman in China Delayed a Flight By Throwing Coins at the Engine for Good Luck by [Joseph Hincks](/author/joseph-hincks/) ## Joseph Hincks Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 28, 2017 10:01 AM CUT  A China Southern Airlines aircraft flies above Shanghai, China, on Oct. 23, 2015. A China Southern Airlines aircraft flies above Shanghai, China, on Oct. 23, 2015.Qilai Shen—Bloomberg/Getty Images by [Joseph Hincks](/author/joseph-hincks/) ## Joseph Hincks Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 28, 2017 10:01 AM CUT An elderly passenger caused the evacuation of nearly 150 fellow travelers on a plane in China Tuesday after she tossed a handful of coins at the aircraft — apparently in a good luck gesture for the flight’s safety — with one landing inside the plane’s engine. CNN [reports](http://edition.cnn.com/2017/06/28/asia/china-coin-planes/index.html "undefined") that police detained the 80-year-old woman after receiving reports that she had been seen on the tarmac of Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport throwing money at the Guangzhou-bound flight CZ380. “The passenger, surnamed Qiu, who has no prior criminal record or mental health issues, claimed she tossed coins as a prayer for a safe flight,” Shanghai Police said in a statement cited by CNN. After evacuating the plane, an Airbus A320 operated by China Southern Airlines, police recovered one coin from inside its engine and found a further eight scattered on the ground nearby. The flight was reportedly delayed for more than five hours as a result. Agence France-Presse [reports](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/27/chinese-passenger-throws-coins-plane-engine-luck/ "undefined") that the carrier released a statement on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like microblogging platform, saying it had “conducted a full exam of the plane’s engine” before authorizing take-off. Other Weibo users had a field day with the story. “Grandma, this is not a wish fountain with turtles,” one user reportedly wrote. \[[CNN](http://edition.cnn.com/2017/06/28/asia/china-coin-planes/index.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4836322/china-flight-delay-coins-engine/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4836322/china-flight-delay-coins-engine/"},"headline":"An Elderly Woman in China Delayed a Flight By Throwing Coins at the Engine for Good Luck","datePublished":"2017-06-28T10:01:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:21:02.725Z","description":"She thought it would bring good luck","url":"https://time.com/4836322/china-flight-delay-coins-engine/","keywords":["China","Aviation","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd581b75e9a4f57b5/6988d3a297cdff418a6b15f0/gettyimages-493875166.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joseph Hincks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joseph-hincks/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd581b75e9a4f57b5/6988d3a297cdff418a6b15f0/gettyimages-493875166.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"China Said To Consider Consolidation Among Big 3 Airlines","caption":"China Said To Consider Consolidation Among Big 3 Airlines","creditText":"Qilai Shen—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/china/","name":"China"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4836322/china-flight-delay-coins-engine/","name":"An Elderly Woman in China Delayed a Flight By Throwing Coins at the Engine for Good Luck"}}]}] ```