I flew SNA/MSP for a meeting on 9/10 and was supposed to return to SNA on 9/11 in the late afternoon. I got up that morning in my hotel room and turned on the television to CNN just in time to catch the plane striking the second tower. At first I wasn't sure what I was watching -- I thought it was a preview for a movie. I wound up staying at the hotel through Saturday (luckily they were able to accommodate me) when I was finally able to fly home.

I flew a redeye SEA-MDW-DCA arriving Monday morning, 9/10 for a two-day consult in downtown Washington. I was booked to fly home the evening of 9/11. Tuesday morning, in our hotel four or five blocks from the White House, I was sitting in the breakfast room with my colleagues with the TV over the bar carrying the Today Show. I got up to find the coffeepot, looked up as the Today Show cut to the breaking-news shot of the damaged WTC, and did not sit down again.

I stayed at the bar for a good 12 to 14 hours. Strangers were hugging and weeping, especially in the short period when the White House was thought to be a target and bad information was circulating about bombs going off all over DC. The bar opened at 1000am in response to popular demand. A terrible, lucid, this-is-the-way-the-world-ends feeling settled over us that I will remember for the rest of my life. I remember pouring down one Cutty and ginger after another to absolutely no effect -- I have never touched that particular drink since.

Obviously homebound travel back to SEA was cancelled. It didn't help that the client had forced us to book the cheapest flights available, which meant we were on ATA, which had very few resources / alternatives for us. On the Wednesday night, we fell into conversation with a businessman from Kansas City who'd just rented a car and figured he could drive home in two or three days. My three colleagues and I looked at each other and said: hey, we could do that. I called Avis, where I had Preferred Select status (which they've since discontinued), and begged for a big car. They had one left in the entire DC area, but I would have to go up to BWI to fetch it. God bless them.

Me too. Thursday morning I took a nearly empty train up to BWI, which was going to reopen for flights that evening and looked as close to an armed camp as I ever hope to see in the US, and Avis gave me a big red Pontiac Bonneville with no mileage or drop-off charge. I took it back to DC, loaded up my friends, and we drove straight through to Seattle. It took 40 hours flat to get from Lafayette Park across from the White House to the Fauntleroy-Vashon ferry terminal on Puget Sound. 3000 miles, ten tanks of gas. Total bill from Avis: $285. I've been loyal ever since.

I don't doubt it. As we drove through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, etc. westbound it seemed like every tenth car on the road was a generic American sedan, obviously a rental like ours, filled with grim-looking businesspeople heading home.

One of the sales reps that served our company ended up buying a car to get home from the Northeast. In his case, he was planning on buying a new car anyways but it wasn't the way he wanted to have to do it.

My then 3 yr old son and I had flown into Philly on the 10th from Paris via FRA. Because we didn't know when the airports would reopen and when we could get our flt rescheduled, we took the QE2 back to South Hampton, England. I got a great price on it because there were many cancellations due to pax not able to get to the boat.

My retired mom was flying back NRT-LAX that day when the pilot came on saying that they are unable to land in the US. The flight landed in YVR and was told there was nothing they could do to accommodate her back to Los Angeles.

Luckily, being of Japanese descent, her first thought was “I wonder if I can take the train back home” and hopped onto a cab to the train depot in Vancouver. She recalled it was eerily quiet and wondered if the trains were cancelled too, but the Amtrak/VIA rail counter said they were wide open.

She booked the first Amtrak Cascades to Seattle and the connecting Coast Starlight to Los Angeles and was back in LA for me to pick her up at LA Union Station in less than 36 hours while most people were still stranded in YVR not knowing what do to. Though she mentioned that amongst the tragedy, she had the best train ride to remember.

The phone lines to the US were in the main not down that morning (US local time, or afternoon GMT/GMT+1 time) -- it was just that many people had trouble getting connected for one or more reason(s).

I had flown ORF-SEA on 9 Sept, and had a meeting at Boeing on 9/11. All my colleagues flew in to SEA on 10 Sept. We still had our meeting that morning, but it was apparent that everyone's mind was elsewhere. Was stuck in Seattle for 2 more nights, then rented a car from National (no drop charge or anything) for the long solo drive home- left Thursday at noon, arrived home in Virginia 6pm Sunday. 3300 miles in just over 3 days. Spent nights in Montana, South Dakota, and Kentucky. Colleagues all got home in various ways- some drove back a few days later, and others drove to Denver, and got flights home from there.

My parents were flying out to CDG from the US. They turned around on the way to the airport after hearing the news. And getting my urgent calls.

She did leave her checked luggage behind, but got it back a few days later. They delivered it to her house.

By then, the checked luggage was the least of her worries.

I just remembered another situation from 9/11/01. I mentioned before that the company CEO died in the Pentagon attack.

The CEO was flying from Washington to LA for a meeting. A colleague, also from Washington, was supposed to be at that very same meeting. The colleague was newly-hired, and decided and the last minute to fly out a day ahead (9/10/01) so he could have dinner and some face time with his direct-reports, one of whom was my friend who was supposed to fly to Ohio the next day (9/11/01).

Imagine how he must have felt. He missed a horrible death by one day, but his boss did not. He got zillions of phone calls from family and friends who had heard he was supposed to be in the air on Tuesday, flying from Washington to LAX. His little boy was crying on the phone "Daddy, don't get back on an airplane.".

The guy rented a car and drove home from Los Angeles to Washington in three days.

Our daughter's saga of a 3 day madhouse trip from Manchester, NH back to AUS on 9/11 ranks pretty high, puddle-jumping short hops on WN, etc., although no olover of WN, she admits that it s staff worked hard to get her home soonest.

I was on a plane a few days prior to 9/11, but in the preceding three days, I had been in Nova Scotia with my grandparents. I had just graduated college, and they wanted to take me to where my grandfather grew up.

We were scheduled to take the high-speed CAT ferry from Yarmouth to Bar Harbor around 11am (Atlantic Time). We were walking around Yarmouth, going in various shops while we waited, and one of the store owners said "Did you hear that the WTC building fell over?" She invited us back into her office to look up news on the internet, but it barely worked, there was so much internet traffic.

We went to the ferry terminal, and they said that the US Government hadn't decided whether or not to let ferry passengers from Canada in, but they thought they would be more likely to let us in if we were already there, so the boat would leave as scheduled. We watched the second tower fall in the terminal, and watched very fuzzy images of the Taliban saying they weren't involved on the satellite TV on the boat.

When we got to Bar Harbor, they let us in, but they searched everyone's car very thoroughly. I was told later (but never bothered to confirm it) that one or more of the hijackers had taken the same ferry to the US a few days or weeks before.

I was supposed to fly from Newark to San Francisco on 11 September 2001. My Delta flight had an equipment downgrade and I was offered a reroute on a United nonstop instead. I declined since I was chasing some Skymiles promo.

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

In retrospect, I guess that was a smart choice. Let it be a lesson to all FTers - flying the long way can not only earn you bonus miles but can save your life! :)

I was flying from LAN to MSP and ended up being diverted to MQT (the former K.I. Sawyer AFP) in the U.P. of Michigan.

I found out later that my flight was one of several dozen that were thought to have been potentially hijacked.

Was supposed to be flying BOS-BNA on DL to give a talk at a meeting the next day. We had boarded & were just about to push back when the ATC hold went into effect. FO came on & said we'd be waiting 'a few minutes', it was ok to go ahead & use our cellphones, & 'if anyone finds out what is going on, let us know'. Don't remember how long after it was before they deplaned us but told us to stay in the gate area because 'when we get the all clear, it's going to be a fast departure'.

Of course, that flight never did take off but I did get the miles for it since my BP had already been scanned! :p

My partner, who was going to the same meeting, was in the air TPA-BNA, but they were turned around & landed back at TPA. Another colleague was going RIC-ELP, landed somewhere in LIT, & drove the rest of his trip.

Most amazing story I heard was from another colleague who was heading to the same meeting I was, but decided to drive from Ann Arbor, Michigan to BNA. Left before the hijackings, apparently didn't have the radio on in the car, never turned the tv on when he got to the hotel that night, & literally didn't know anything had happened until the morning of the 12th when he came down for the meeting & asked the front desk clerk where everyone was!