More than 350 people who were originally scheduled to be on the four airliners hijacked in the 9/11 attacks either changed their plans and canceled their reservations--in many cases at the last minute--or simply failed to show up for the flights on the morning of September 11, 2001. While these individuals came from a variety of backgrounds, a remarkable number of them worked in, or had close connections to, Hollywood or other areas of the entertainment industry. Some of them were very well-known personalities.

For example, among the individuals who had reservations for American Airlines Flight 11--the first plane to be hijacked--were Seth Macfarlane, the creator of the cartoon Family Guy; actor Mark Wahlberg, the star of movies such as Boogie Nights and The Fighter; Bobby Farrelly, the writer and director of comedy movies such as Dumb & Dumber and There's Something About Mary; and Julia Child, the renowned chef and television personality. Sam Mendes, the director of American Beauty and the latest James Bond movie, Skyfall, was originally scheduled to be on American Airlines Flight 77, the third plane to be hijacked. And Robert Redford, the world-famous actor and director, narrowly avoided being on United Airlines Flight 93, the fourth plane to be hijacked.

Interestingly, one man who was originally booked on Flight 77--Erik Nelson--was later the executive producer of a National Geographic Channel documentary that attempted to debunk claims of U.S. government involvement in the 9/11 attacks.

It is also perhaps notable that a fair number of people who were originally scheduled to be on the hijacked flights but canceled their reservations or failed to turn up for their flights worked in professional sport. These included major league baseball player Brad Thomas, ice hockey coach Bruce Boudreau, and legendary basketball coach John Thompson.

Summarized in this article are accounts found in books, news articles, FBI documents, websites, or Internet blogs, of these individuals who were originally booked on the flights hijacked on September 11, but canceled their reservations or simply failed to show up for their flights.

"The leaseholder of the World Trade Center properties is asking a U.S. federal judge to reject arguments that American Airlines is not liable for damages stemming from the September 11, 2001 hijackings because the attacks were an act of war.

Larry Silverstein filed court papers Wednesday asking U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan to dismiss that line of defense by the airline and its parent, AMR Corp, in the developer's long-running negligence lawsuit against them.

Silverstein has sought to hold American and United Airlines, now United Continental Holdings Inc, responsible for damages from the 2001 attacks for allegedly failing to provide adequate airport and airline security".

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/20/us-usa-worldtradecenter-airlines-idUSBRE91J13O20130220?irpc=932

From the History Commons Groups blog:

A large number of entries have been added to the Complete 9/11 Timeline at History Commons. Many of these examine the response of American Airlines to the hijacking of Flight 11, the first plane to hit the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Entries focus, in particular, on phone calls made from Flight 11 by two of the plane's flight attendants: Betty Ong and Amy Sweeney.

A new timeline entry describes how Peggy Houck, a dispatcher at the American Airlines System Operations Control (SOC) center in Texas, received her first indication of a problem with Flight 11 when another American Airlines flight contacted her at 8:20 a.m. and said air traffic controllers had asked it to try to contact Flight 11.

Betty Ong's Phone Call from Flight 11

American Airlines employees who were dealing with phone calls made by two flight attendants on Flight 11--the first plane to be hijacked on September 11, 2001--were told by their superiors to keep quiet about what they had learned about the unfolding crisis. At a time when the airline should have been alerting as many people as possible to the serious incident that the flight attendants were describing, senior personnel were instead issuing instructions such as "Don't spread this around" and "I don't want this spread all over this office right now."

Furthermore, airline employees who were aware of the flight attendants' calls were remarkably slow to pass on what they knew to individuals and agencies that should have been alerted as a matter of urgency, such as the FBI, the FAA, and even American Airlines senior managers.

November 28, 2012

(Sacramento, CA)  9/11 Truth activist Mark Graham sent a letter to the 12 insurance companies for the airline defendants sued by Larry Silverstein informing them about evidence of controlled demolition of the Twin Towers and Building 7 and offering to put them in touch with building experts who could provide expert testimony. 

In 2004 Larry Silverstein, who owned Building 7 and had signed a 99 year lease on the Twin Towers just six weeks before 9/11, sued United and American Airlines ¹ and companies providing security at the airports (the "airline defendants").  Silverstein claimed that the airline defendants ² had been negligent in allowing the hijackers to board and hijack the planes and fly them into the Twin Towers.  He claimed that the plane crashes and fires "proximately caused the total destruction" of the Twin Towers, Building 7 and the other buildings in the World Trade Center.  (Complaint in Case 1:08-cv-03722-AKH Document 1 Filed 04/17/08, page 2)  ³

No mention has been made of the fact that it would have been impossible for those plane crashes and fires to have destroyed the buildings or the abundant evidence of controlled demolition.  The defense attorneys could make an affirmative defense of this argument and exculpatory evidence.

Graham sent his letter via certified mail to the heads of 12 insurance companies who insured the airline defendants including Lloyd’s of America, Travelers Cos, Swiss Re, Zurich American, Global Aerospace and U.S. Aircraft Insurance Group and to their attorneys.

T. Carter (COPA Conference 2002)

T. CARTER, flight attendant, was scheduled to fly on her regular flight, AA 77, on Sept. 11, 2001, but she instead opted out of duty that day, and her friend and fellow flight attendant, Rene, took the plane, replacing her.

Rene boarded AA 77 in Washington DC and on this regularly scheduled route, proceeded to Dallas. Over Ohio, Rene called her mother on her cell phone and told her to call American Airlines Operations and report that the plane had been hijacked. Rene said there were 6 hijackers. Press releases since then have only reported 5 hijackers, but that is a separate subject due to its size and scope. There were no sounds of struggle when Rene phoned her mother and Rene did not call her again.

In an affidavit, T. Carter states that she went to the crash site within 48 hours after the 757 hit the Pentagon, with her mother, to give support to the crews retrieving bodies and wreckage. Her visit could have been late in the day Sept. 11, or on Sept. 12. At the pentagon, she recognized the tail section of AA 77 that she had flown on many times, as she walked past it. The tail was on the grass,

NASA Flight Director Confirms 9/11 Aircraft Speed As The "Elephant In The Room"

I've long been interested in the techniques demonstrated by Derren Brown on his "Mind Control" programs in the US (SciFi Channel) and the UK (BBC), especially when he demonstrates that by repeating words over and over again in such a way that people don't even notice you're doing it, you can put ideas into their heads that they think are their own. (I think the science-y sounding name for it is "neuro linguistic programming")

I'm sure this was behind the choice of "United" and "American" airlines (instead of TWA, Delta, Southwest, Northwest, Sun Country, Air Alaska, etc etc etc) for the 9/11 attacks. I threw together a little video to demonstrate my point, using only a couple hours of NBC footage from that morning:

No wonder everybody felt like such "united" "americans" in the days following 9/11, obediently waiting for our heroic commander-in-chief to give us our marching orders.

*Airlines, Others Sue FBI, CIA To Depose Agents In 9-11 Cases*

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Airline manufacturer Boeing Co. (BA), major airlines and several airport operators sued the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency on Tuesday in a bid to question current and former agency employees in connection with negligence litigation over the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks.

In separate lawsuits, the airlines and others are challenging decisions by the FBI and the CIA that prevent them from conducting depositions of those employees.

The airlines include AMR Corp.'s (AMR) American Airlines, UAL Corp.'s (UAUA) United Airlines, US Airways Group Inc. (LCC), Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL), Continental Airlines Inc. (CAL) and AirTran Holdings Inc. (AAI).

The Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates Logan International Airport in Boston, and the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority, which operates Ronald Reagan National Airport and Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., also are plaintiffs in the lawsuits.

Around 6:00 in the evening on 9/11 ABC's Lynn Sherr gave a rundown of the airplanes and number of passengers. Somehow, she knew that the hijackers were not included in the passenger lists or statistics she was given.

"Total number of passengers and crew, two hundred and sixty-six people, not (of course) counting the hijackers"

How does she know that the hijackers are not included in the 266?

Here's the raw clip (mpeg2):
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GLAC8OZX

Original video from:
http://ia311502.us.archive.org/0/items/abc200109111733-1814/V08553-25.mpg
and available on CC, just search for archive.org

The FBI press release: http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel01/092701hjpic.htm

Maybe someone can tactfully ask her.