9/11 Experiences
 

Was anyone on a aircraft on 9-11-01 that was divererted when all planes were forced to land at the nearest airport. Is there a post here that goes back that far with the flyertalk threads. Also interested in anyone else
who was stranded by what happended.
I am woundering what people did and how they got to their destination.
If you have not seen it on Continental.Com in press release history for that day indicating every flight in the air and what airport it was divererted to.
Did airlines get buses or did you have to rent a car and drive since air traffic
was down for about 2 days.

I flew into DCA from SEA on September 10 and was booked to return home the evening of September 11. We were holed up in a hotel five blocks from the White House when the deal went down; we smelled the smoke drifting across the Potomac from the Pentagon, but were never in any danger (although for a few hours there, with erroneous reports of the capital beseiged by bombs and stray planes, we thought we might be). What I remember about that day is drinking Cutty & ginger starting at about 10:30am, all day and all evening, and remaining stone cold sober while Peter Jennings narrated the end of the world as we knew it. Next to me at the bar was disaster-master Paul "Crash of '79" Ehrlich wearing a tight I-told-you-so grimace.

Our four-person work team hired a Pontiac Bonneville from Avis -- on September 13 I rode a deserted MARC train up to fetch it from BWI, which was as close to a martial law-style armed camp as anything I hope to see in America -- and drove it from DC to Seattle in 45 hours flat. A Cannonball Run without the laughs.

I was just out of college but worked for a large Global 1000. I was based in their North American sales office in Boston and we always had a a large number of people on the road. The first few hours were anxious as no one knew what was going on. By the end of the day, everyone was accounted for and safely on the ground. Sadly, a friend at another company lost quite a few people that day. Soon, the word from corporate was to get home no matter the cost. Within 3 days, everyone made it back.

In an effort that made Planes, Trains, and Automobiles look like a drive to the supermarket, people got on just about every mode of transportation. With Logan closed until Sept 15th, people were getting as close as they could by plane and then got creative. Some people managed to hop trains and leapfrog across the country. Quite a few "Rode the Dog" AKA taking the Greyhound Bus. Others rented anything with wheels, a seat, and a engine. A couple of people got Ryder box trucks and others got UHaul vans. One person got himself in a Corvette, a few got Jags, and we even saw a Mercedes sedan. They were a contrast to the Geo Metros, Chevy Cavaliers, and other econoboxes. Three unlucky people had a little tiny Mitsubishi Eclipse which they drove all the way from Texas. Another person was driven up from Philly by his sister in law.

We gathered as many vehicles as we could in the parking lot and snapped a picture. The variety of vehicles was stunning. I need to dig up the photo.

A friend of mine was in the air heading home to Australia. It was one of the planes that they didn't have contact with for a short period of time as when you are out over the ocean, radio contact is nil for awhile. When they landed in Australia, they interviewed everyone getting off that plane as to where their original departure point had been. His was New York. He got pulled in and was questioned for over 4 hours before he was even told what had happened in New York. He kind of got profiled on that, he dark skinned, and had about 4 days of beard growth. When they finally confirmed that he was indeed who and what he said he was, they told him what had happened in New York, where he immediately broke down as he had family living very near the area. He was then allowed to call to try and get through to his family. In the meantime, his wife and NO idea where he was as he didn't seem to get off the plane, no one would tell her anything and she couldn't get through to New York to see if he even had gotten on the plane. They were both nervous wrecks for a while after that.

Here's an old thread on the events:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...trade-ctr.html

No real anecdotes from myself as I was in middle school in Alaska... although hunters were stranded for days and didn't know why (who were hunting in the bush).

I was in El Paso, TX doing a site visit for a contract we were bidding. I remember leaving the hotel not too long after the first tower fell and driving along the airport and seeing jet after jet stacked up on their way to an unplanned landing at ELP.

After a night or two I gave up on flying back to California and drove to my brother's in Arizona where I waited for my girlfriend (now wife) to drive her way from Philadelphia to PHX. I went across New Mexico and AZ and the only aircraft I saw flying were military.

We then went from there back to SBA but over-nighted in Vegas. Vegas was almost obscene. Deserted and just sad. Every TV in the place was running news. Still cant go into Binion's (formerly Horseshoe) without remembering that night.

I hope nobody minds ...
 

I do hope no one minds me posting from my experience, which were no-where near any of the down sites.

At the time I worked for British Airways in their call centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. I finished my night shift at 6am 11 Sep, and went home to bed. My dad came in but a short while later, around 12 midday i think, to tell me I should go back to work. When I asked why, he just told me to come look at the TV.

I walked downstairs to scenes i shall not forget on the TV. I immediately called work and they confirmed that they needed all hands on deck.

On the way I collected 3 of my nightshift collegues, who were as stunned as I, and a very quiet ride to work ensued.

Upon walking into work, it was a scene of absolute mayhem if I am honest. The lines were absolutely jammed solid, and all staff were told sit where you can and pick up a headset!

We were briefed about what had happened, and what we should say/shouldnt say, and such like.

The calls we took for the next 17 hours solid, were absolutely horrendous. that is apart from being heartbreaking, emotional, frustrating, and downright hard. I know people had harder jobs during this than us, but the feeling of helplessness was almost visible.

As scenes unfolded, nothing let up call wise, as you can imagine. at the peak I remember 3000 calls waiting to be answered. (that was the largest number the boards would display!) however the actual number was much higher.

I did not have time to think about the ramifiacations of what I was unwittingly in the thick of (to a degree) ... until after the 17 hours were up and I had gone to have a couple of hours before starting again.

I cannot begin to tell you how it feels when someone calls you, and tell you that they think there son or a loved one was on that flight. You heart just drops like a stone. Horrid.

I started longing for calls about ticket changes ;)

I will never ever forget this day.

Just like Jimmy O's, I was also in El Paso TX when the attacks occured. That morning, I was on my way to a 7am class at the University of Texas at El Paso. I was riding the city bus as usual, listening to the radio on my cell phone when the first news reports came out. Upon entering my class, my professor had the television with news coverage of the events.

Sometime later on that day, I heard that the Border Patrol and Customs Services (pre-ICE) shut down all traffic across the border...which lasted a few days afterwards. I also saw the stack of airplanes that landed at ELP, the sight and variety of which I did not see again until Continental stored some of their widebodies in the face of Hurricane Ike in 2008.

It is one of those events in life that you NEVER forget where you were when you heard the news.

I was driving home from a morning at Law College when I heard the newsflash. I switched the tv on when I got home and sat transfixed to the tv all day, praying for those in the towers and on the planes.

Once the kids got home from school they were sat watching. I told them that they would remember this day forever. God only knows what the families of those who were lost went through waiting for news.

Quite the contrary, Cazzi -- thank you for taking the time. We don't have nearly enough 9/11 stories from airline professionals "on the inside," and you remind us that the impact was truly transnational.

I was working on a British Royal Air Force Base, doing an audit. The reactions of the military were interesting. We also had to fly home, and although we returned 2-3 days later, the rumours going around the base were constant. Because of where I was working, we could get instant confirmation of some of them like 'all flights from LHR have been cancelled' - that was regular, but always incorrect.

When we came to fly back, we were delayed about 3 hours. I remember landing at LHR, an airport I knew well, and was gobsmacked at how planes were crammed in everywhere they possibly could be - even parked nose to tail in some places such that one could not be moved without moving the other first. Never seen LHR like that, and hope never to see it again.

I was overnighting in the mess at a local RAF station before returning home, got there about 2 am after a long day. Completely forgot about the raised alert status on military installations and gave the sentries heart failure by sitting at the front gate with my headlights on, waiting for them to open it until i realised that they wouldn't open it until they could identify me - which they couldn't with my lights on :o I've always been grateful they weren't more nervous :o :o :eek:

I flew from SNA to MSP on 9/10 and was supposed to fly home on 9/11. I woke up that morning to the news reports on CNN. I had my client meeting that morning, but no one could get back out. I was stranded in Minneapolis until that Saturday and was on one of the first commercial flights allowed back in the air. As soon as I heard that air traffic was grounded, I called my TA and had her extend my stay at my hotel (Marriott, I think). This was a smart decision as, from what I understood at the time, all the hotels quickly filled up.

Saturday morning, I took a taxi to the airport, and went through the enhanced security. I remember noting the presence of National Guard soldiers armed with automatic weapons. We boarded without much delay. Once on board, the pilot made an announcement to the effect that he knew that everyone was tense and nervous, but he and his first officer weren't about to let anything happen to our flight. He also said that he knew that, if there were any "problems," we would "take care of it." We all looked around at each other and nodded affirmatively.

It was a relief to get home.

There were several FT thread from that time. Several were in Community Buzz, including a roll-call thread to try and determine if any members were on the flights and this one offering lodging in members' homes to others who might be stranded:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/commu...ce-thread.html

I'd just boarded a plane at ORD for JAX. A passenger behind me got off his phone and said that a plane crashed into a WTC tower. I figured it was a private pilot who didn't know what he was doing. We sat there a few minutes longer and the FA announced we wouldn't be flying. She said, When you hear why, you won't want to fly. We disembarked and I found out it was not a little Cessna that crashed. The gate agents were told to do no rebookings.

As the gate cleared out, I stuck around and asked the agent if, now that no one was around, she could issue me a paper ticket. It was my best move that day. The gravity of the situation didn't sink in and I went to the President's Club to wait it out until I could get rebooked and fly that day. It was there I saw the second crash live. Minutes later, a club attendant said they were closing and we had to leave. Then airport workers said the airport had to be evacuated. I called hotels. All were booked. One passenger said he found a room 90 minutes away. I called friends in the suburbs and they offered to house me.

I rode the train out to Barrington and it was stone silence. I thought that odd. Maybe it's the way it always was, but everyone was going home from work early. The train was full.

During the days that passed, no one knew when planes would be flying again, so I was rebooked 13 times, only to have them all cancel. I checked Amtrak, but nothing for two weeks. No cars were available.

On Friday, three days after 9/11, I figured I wasn't going to get home unless I was at the airport. The lines at the counter were huge, but my paper ticket I got on 9/11 got me through security, where there was almost no one airside.

I went to an empty customer service desk and asked for anything that would get me further west. I thought I was good to go when I was booked on a flight to PDX. Just before boarding the agent called me up and said the FAA just issued a directive that you had to stay on your same itinerary. I was off the flight.

My spouse worked for the FAA. I called him, perhaps a little irrationally ;), blaming him for this policy that was stranding me and telling me he had to get me in the air today.

Another passenger overheard me - the nicest man - he offered me his seat on a flight to I don't know where. Turns out he was a pharmacist and I had a horrible eye infection. He offered help, but I had my medications. He was very sweet and offered any help he could. It was a wonderful time of strangers helping strangers, hugging, offering comfort.

My spouse called back with a ticket out on Southwest for sometime later that day.

I then met another passenger who had a rental car reserved in case his flight cancelled. We agreed to drive to Colorado (where he lived) together and I'd take the car from there, if I didn't get on a flight. If he got on, he'd give me the car.

He got on and I went back to UA and an angel of an agent was able to override the new policy and get me standby on a flight to OAK though my original itinerary was to SJC. I was never sure I was really on it though until the plane took off.

Many on the flight were not stranded passengers, but those who'd been booked for that day. Some agents saw that I was a standby passenger there since 9/11 and were kind enough to move me ahead of people who had not been delayed. I remember one passenger asking me if I was waiting for an upgrade. I was shocked by the question. This was a rare time when an upgrade was furthest from my mind.

The flight was oddly quiet. I chatted with the FAs in the back galley. Older ones were calm. A young one was petrified. I doubt she's flying today.

At one point I looked out my window and saw an American flag cut into a wheat field. I've never been terribly patriotic, but I began to tear.

I arrived at OAK and cried the way home from there ... just an emotional release, much caused from being away from my family at a time I wanted them most.

I, of course, had it easy, but it's a time I won't forget, and I certainly won't forget the kindness of strangers.

In the days following, we had to take various actions, including putting cellophane tape on our car doors so we could tell if they'd been tampered with due to my husband's facility being a potential target. He also had to bring enough things to be prepared to stay there for several days.

I had just left my job with AA three months earlier. I knew one of our FAs killed that day. I worked in the SAT Res Office as a Resolution Supervisor. One of the last issues I worked involved AA 77 (Pentagon).

The year previous, I worked for UA for a few months.

One popular FT has an especially eerie story involving his potential reaccom on UA 93 on 11 Sep 01. I'm sure he'll chime in on this thread.

I recall a TV ad a few months after for AA; "One Airline Proud to carry the name American."

Over on Airliners.net, there are fascinating photos from the Maritimes & Atlantic Canada of the 9/11 TATL diversions (Gander, Goose Bay, Halifax, St. Johns, etc).

The FT assistance thread is excellent. What a great bunch of people on this site. Those who brought down those planes on 9-11 very so evill, just shows you there are many more caring and outstanding people on this planet. The stories I heard how those in some cities in Canada took care of American's who were stranded in thier country a few days.

Not directly ,but
 

I am a retired Detective ,one of my closest friends , a NYC police officer died that day in Tower #2 .

I'm a Muslim of Afghan origin and I had to quit my job at a Federal bldg cuz losers were harassing me so much with their ignorance and so called patriotism ...and I was 2000+ miles away from the crash sites.

2001 was before I started travelling often.
When it started, I was watching The West Wing on TV. During an ad break towards the end of the show, there was a news flash about the first plane. When the show ended, they cut straight to the news. About 2 seconds before the second plane hit.

Sorry to hear that. There are a lot of ignorant people out there.

I was one of only two people from my department that WASN'T in the air when the Towers were hit. Everyone else was on a plane to our yearly corporate meeting in Chicago, and they were diverted to Memphis.

I was working for a property management company on the 51st floor of a skyscraper in the middle of nowhere and was the only person around who knew how to turn on the big tvs in the conference room. The room was packed with my colleagues and when the Pentagon was hit someone said "what the hell are all of us doing here, this is a target if there is one in Houston" and everyone fled. Unfortunately the phones were going off the hook with building managers from all over the country trying to figure out what they were supposed to do - should they evacuate or tell everyone to be calm?

There was no one higher than the two of us in corporate communications to ask. We discussed it and decided to tell everyone to evacuate if they felt it was in their interests. The NY, LA, SF, Miami, Houston and Chicago buildings all shut down ASAP. Then I drove home through the worst traffic ever.

It was pretty terrifying since we really were a big fat target sitting out in the middle of no where and there were military helicopters flying by my window constantly. Scary horrible day.

Took my colleagues about 5 days to get home.

i was in miami when i got a panicked phone call from a friend in one of the towers. he was just dialing all his numbers trying to let people know he was ok and on his way out. i tried to call him back but did not get through. i called a mutual friend, in ny, to tell him about the strange call, thinking maybe he was in a car accident or something. my mutual friend asked me if i had seen the tv yet. i said no and turned it on. that's how my day started. i tried to contact friends that work in the city and some in the towers. it was pot luck getting through. i spoke to another friend who was in one of the towers as he was coming out. i lost 3 friends that day...

I lived in NYC at the time but was actually at AA headquarters for a big conference that day. I was blow-drying my hair in the room when I saw the news on the first plane. Went downstairs to breakfast and made them turn on the the TV in time to watch the 2nd plane hit. :shudder:

AA cancelled the conference and set up a huge screen TV so we could all watch the news.

My dad was in a meeting with Senator Leiberman and was kicked out of the building they were in when the Secret Service came to grab the Senator. He wasn't able to get in touch with family for several hours and my mom was hysterical since she thought he was in the Pentagon that day instead of the bldg he was actually in.

I lost several acquaintances but all my friends who worked in the towers got out safely.

We ended up driving home from Dallas. I moved to Madrid a few months later and was there when the trains were bombed - had coworkers on those too :(

I was immigrating into Canada from The Netherlands and my flight from AMS to YYZ was booked for Sep 11, 2001 (Canada 3000 was the airline).

We flew, and landed in Halifax instead of YYZ. While descending into Halifax we were told by the captain "There seems to be some kind of a problem in the US and we will land here in Halifax for about an hour. You will have to disembark, you can collect your baggage at the terminal and we will let you know when we will be on our way again".

I was looking out of the window and noticed that all the taxiways were filled with aircraft looking like a bumper-to-bumper traffic jam on a highway. I knew that this was not usual.

It was only after we went into the terminal that we saw what was on the news. Only then did we know what had happened. Then we were told that we would not be flying for an indefinite period until th all-clear had been given.

We collected our baggage from the carousel. Oddly enough, out of the 17,000 or so people stranded that day in Halifax, we were the only people who were permitted to collect our checked-in baggage. All the others had their bags still in the planes and had to make do with the care-package brought out by stores, people, the Red Cross etc. containing underwear, sanitary towels, toothpaste, brushes etc.

One very unique experience I had was that I helped the immigration officers process my own immigration into Canada because the officials at Halifax were not used to anyone immigrating into Halifax. They just did not know what to do. Because I have this habit of researching anything important I knew what papers I would be expected to show, bring, sign, collect, etc.

It was funny - they had to search for one of the forms and finally found one in someone's desk drawer!

After that we were bussed to schools, community centres, gymnasiums etc.

It was then that I saw for myself what I had only heard about before about Canadians being friendly and helpful - they came out in droves and stared taking people, total strangers of any colour, into their homes. They said "Why do you want to sleep here on camp-cots? We have a spare bedroom / fully-furnished basement with a bedroom etc., come and stay with us comfortably, you can call your people and let them know you are fine, etc.

I spent three days with the most wonderful people. Their three kids (the oldest being 12 - a girl who wanted to be an undertaker when she grew up) spent the three days and nights with very little sleep, shunting between home and the community centre, running errands for the stranded people, taking food, coffee from their home etc.

When flights started leaving again, the mother and father started to drive back and forth to the airport to see which flights were leaving, who from those flights was staying in their basement, and driving them to the airport.

In the meanwhile the dad took us out on a 25 cent tour of Sackville, Halifax.

We flew to Toronto three days later and I anded where I was originally supposed to land, in a strange country where I knew not a soul.

Since then I have attempted to behave like Canadians and have also acquired Canadian citizenship myself.

Cheers

On September 11, 2001, Flyertalk had in the neighborhood of 5000 - 7500 members. The old threads really stand out when you consider that.

My sister called me at 8:45 that morning. She knows I fly and was nervous.

My house is located in a spot where LGA and HPN have arrival and departure paths. Not hearing any airplanes for several days was strange. When planes did begin to fly, it was as if the music returned to the skies.

Very sad day here in New York. Very sad. :(

This thread has an incredible story of someone who was not only on an aircraft on that day, but listening to channel 9 at the time of the attacks.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...11-2001-a.html

An amazing post.

+1. First time I've read it.

I remember being in high school at the time when the headmaster called us for a special assembly. I recall walking by my college counselor's office when his lovely aunt-like secretary told us to come in quickly. She usually had a tv playing local sports (MLB, NFL etc) near the doorway. We would often pause in the doorway to say hello, and catch a quick glance. But this time it was switched onto CNN. I don't remember her face, but I vividly remember the replays of the planes hitting either tower and how stunned we all were.

While the school day did finish as normal, all extra-curriculars were called off and I remember going to a bar with a friend in a hotel and just watching CNN and the replays again and again over some OJ with a friend. Others at the bar were hitting the sauce pretty hard.

I was a High School student in Mid-town Manhattan when 9/11 happened. I was on the roof of my school when I saw the first plane hit. My first reaction was "omg, that pilot must have been super drunk". I was in total disbelief that I just stood there looking at the WTC. I had a friend join me and we were discussing what could've happened when I witnessed the 2nd attack with my own eyes. I never felt so scared in my life. I felt the blood in me go cold. I knew this was no coincidence. I knew this was foul play. My eyes and mind will never forget what I saw that day. I won't forget the rampant rumors of terrorists destroying the Statue of Liberty and the copper polluting the Hudson. I won't forget Francis Perez, my good friend who went to Economics & Finance H.S. and perished that day while leaving school.

I will Never forget.

I was about 45 mins. from being stranded 400 miles from home. Arrived at OAK on 9/11 about 5:45 a.m. for the 7 a.m. 1 hr. UA Shuttle flt. to LAX for court hearings in dowtown L.A. Heard some radio talk in the off-airport parking lot shuttle bus about an airplane that hit the WTC. It was considered an aberrant small plane accident. Near the airport gate for my flight, there was a small bar with a TV set tuned to CNN and a large group was huddled around it. I knew the gate agent working the flight, and relayed info to him. (As he was in uniform and working, airline co. policy barred him from going over to the bar area.) We were about 15 minutes away from boarding when the full extent of the WTC incident was reported. Soon thereafter, the flight was cancelled, as were others about to leave OAK.

I made some calls to court colleagues in L.A. who believed that the court would soon be closed. It was and the cases rescheduled for about a month later. I believe that that was the first time that our court's calendar was cancelled. Along with other cancelled pax., we crowded into a parking shuttle back to the lot. I remember that the lot charged $2.50 for the 75 mins. of parking. I decided that the “Southern route” home to S.F. (across the San Mateo bridge, rather than the Oakland Bay Bridge) would be quieter and it was. Radio was speculating whether bridges and freeways would even remain open. There was little traffic on the way home. I was pretty much numb the rest of the day and the days after are now a blur.

I knew after 9/11 that flying would change forever and the next month, after an airline employee told me that a number of high-status flyers she knew were on a website called FlyerTalk, I checked it out and joined.

"I knew after 9/11 that flying would change forever and the next month, after an airline employee told me that a number of high-status flyers she knew were on a website called FlyerTalk, I checked it out and joined."

That is also how I came to FT. I just realized that we both joined in October, 2001.

I missed 9/11 - the date, that is.
 

I was in MCO for a trade fair. On Sept 10, I boarded AA from MCO to LAX connecting on QF to SYD. This was the second-last QF to leave LAX. I suppose we were around two hours past Hawaii when the tragedy occured. With the quirk that is the International Date Line, I left LAX on Sept 10, landed in SYD some 13 hours later on Sept 12.

Anyway, we were none the wiser until we landed in SYD. The captain requested everyone stay on board for an imminent announcement. They do that sometimes in Aussieland, but usually to announce some sporting victory. The closest I could think of was Hewitt winning the USA Open Tennis on 9th Sept. But that was old news.

Anyway, the captain announced about the Twin Towers being hit, Pentagon, etc. I recall pax on board just shaking their heads in disbelief. He further mentioned that, since the flight originated in NYC, there being quite a few NYC pax on board who might want to check on relatives, QF had ten or twelve staff standing by with open mobile phones ready for anyone wishing to call home.

During the (overnight) flight to SYD, i did not notice anything different on board, though the breakfast service was a little frostier than usual on QF.

When we dismebarked and collected our luggage, the large screens outside normally displaying arrival times were swtiched in TV mode showing a CNN (I think) feed of the tragedy unfolding. The cabbie gave me the morning's paper to read.

Anyway, after a couple of days in SYD, I had an AN flight to BNE to visit family. As fate would have it, it was the day AN ceased operations.... So I was stranded in SYD with a usless ticket. A friend working at QF kindly sold me a ticket on a QF flight, but only after ringing her on her personal mobile phone since the call centre was running hot trying to accommodate other pax of the 900 or so flights that AN usually operated per day. Still fate intervened again: QF refuellers and baggage handlers when on strike to show solidarity with their AN bruvvers. So I did get away from SYD, but with massive delays. QF Club was standing room only....

NG1Fan

+1. Thanks for posting that, frogface63. I was reading old 9/11 threads a couple months back, but hadn't come across that one. There should be a "best of" for threads like that.

I was due to fly MAN-FRA on LH at around 18:30 on 9/11/2001. I assumed the flight would be cancelled, but went to the airport anyway. I was told that the flight was still OK.

Once through security, there used to be a sports bar at MAN T1 that had a big bank of TV's that made one giant TV. This had one of the UK news channels on, and there must have been 200 people standing and watching the replays of the planes hitting the towers.

My flight went without incident, but I noticed that nobody got out of their seats for the whole flight.

Cheers,
Rick

I should have been in San Francisco for a conference that I went to every year around that time. I don't remember why I didn't go that year. Instead, I was walking across the street to do a radio interview about something related to Northwest Airlines. Our media relations person told me that somebody had flown a plane into the WTC and we joked about how it must have been some idiot in a Cessna buzzing the tower. By the time we got to the studio, the topic of the interview had changed...

Mike

Who was in the air on 9/11? Share your memories
 

I'll start:

I was schedule to attend a trade show (Graph Expo) in Chicago with 3 colleagues on 9/11. Our flight from Newark to O’Hare (CO 1179, scheduled departure of 7:45AM) was delayed by the usual morning taxiway traffic (as was United 93, which never made it to the intended target as a result). I remember being angry that I was wedged into a window seat in coach (I think I was Gold at the time and often got the EUA to ORD, but not this time).

September 11th was a picture-perfect day with bright blue skies, and as we approached the turn to take off, the pilot came on the intercom and said, “It’s a beautiful day today and those of you sitting on the right side of the aircraft will get a spectacular view of the New York skyline”. Never before or since 9/11 have I had a pilot make such an announcement. The passengers, mostly business people, all but ignored his observation, not realizing that, by the time our flight landed in Chicago, we would be told that both towers had fallen and the world would never be the same again. I still get chills telling this story, wondering how the pilot decided to make this unusual observation on the day that the NY skyline would change forever.

When we landed in ORD, we still had no idea what had happened that day. Apparently our plan was close enough to ORD so that we did not have to divert to the closest airport when they grounded all aircraft. I remember noticing clearly that the plane took an unusual taxi from the runway to the gate, hugging the outer edges of the airport. When we got to the gate, the pilot came on the intercom and announced, "I have something to tell you that will upset you and will change your day". Then something about planes hitting the twin towers and the towers falling down. There was no way to comprehend what he was telling us. We deplaned, and ORD was a ghost town. All the TV's had been turned off. Everyone jumped on their cell phones to call their loved ones and to find out what had happened. Stories were passed around, "They crashed into the FBI, the CIA, the Pentagon".

We quickly cancelled our business plans and went to the Hertz rental area to get our "reserved" car and drive home. The line extended all around the complex, as many had not returned their cars as planned. After waiting hopelessly in line, I decided to see if I could work another angle, and somehow got a Hertz employee to help. He said to meet me at parking space 56 (and I'm thinking, why does he have to meet me there?). We get there - the car is a subcompact for the 4 of us, and he tells us that the battery needs to be jumped. We were so happy to have a car, we didn't argue. He jumped the car and off we went, stopping at the O'Hare oasis for Burger King (not because we were hungry, but because we had to eat). I remember us trying to decide whether to leave the engine running when we went inside to eat.

We then began our journey east to NJ, listening non-stop to the radio coverage of the day's events. In South Bend, we decided to see if we could get a larger car (we were way to big for this tiny car). I went into the desolate South Bend airport, where I first saw video of the towers falling. I convinced the Hertz clerk to trade our clown car for a "luxurious" Taurus - and it made a big difference. We spent the night somewhere in Ohio (watching President Bush address the nation in the lobby as we checked in).

We continued on the next day to NY, and to awaiting neighborhoods of concerned, welcoming, relieved families and neighbors. Especially my wife, who initially heard from Peter Jennings at the beginning of the day that a Continental jet on the way to Chicago was one of the planes involved.

Nice post. Another question. Who was on a plane that got diverted when all planes had to land at the closest airport. Did you stay at a hotel till the airports were opened or did you rent a car to either get back home or to your destination. I guess this would depend on how far you from your origin or destination. Did the airlines have to pay for your hotel or car rental since the situation was not weather related.

Or Canada, with no passport, for a week, what happens?

My question is why did everyone seem to feel the need to cancel everything and go home? I mean, 9/11 was a crazy day, but New York is a long way from Chicago. I was in Williamsburg VA at the time, and I remember wondering why terrorist attacks in NYC and DC = holiday in Williamsburg....

I was flying to Australia with a friend. They told us nothing the entire flight. When we got off the flight and every person interrogated for 3 hours as to why we were there, etc., they told us what had happened. I was to be in Australia for 2 months. All I wanted to do was go home, just to be with family and loved ones.
It doesn't matter, in a bad situation, all you want to do is be home, where everything is familiar where you feel safest.

I'm going to guess that at the time you were relatively young.

September 11th was the "Pearl Harbor" of our generation --- an attack so unnerving and surprising that the overall feeling of the country was shock and dismay.

When that happens, there's no work that's going to be done.

Really? Because you had foreseen knowledge that the "attack" was over? You were perfectly safe in Williamsburg, VA? You knew ahead of time this wasn't a multilevel attack, with planes being the first phase and what during the second, third phase?

Sure, none of these hypothetical alternatives transpired, however, your situational awareness needs an upgrade.