U-Hauling To Ohio
It’s 9/11/2001. I’m flying from Cedar Rapids, Iowa to Cleveland, Ohio. Just as we are about to board the plane someone in line says something like “a Cessna just crashed into the world trade center.” Though a bit troubling most people were just focused on getting on the plane and didn’t pay it much mind.
We taxi to the runway and take off like normal. I have my head buried in a book so I’m not really paying much attention to what is going on, though I did notice we didn’t get to altitude which I thought was weird. I think we stayed at maybe 10,000 feet rather than going up to 30,000.
My flight was direct into Cleveland. We cruised along at 10,000 feet for 20-30 minutes. The pilot came over the intercom and said: “The FAA has closed all U.S. airspace, we’re landing at Chicago O’Hare.”
Well now everyone on the plane is getting nervous. I really had no idea what the heck was going on. Maybe there was a big accident or maybe a plane was in the air and got hijacked? We land at O’Hare and while looking out the window all I could see was chaos. Planes were everywhere.
Stacked up at the gates, on the access runways leading to the takeoff runway. I’d never seen so many planes on the ground before. People started getting on their phones and slowly information started spreading through the plane that we were under some sort of attack.
We thought this meant that someone had launched a military attack of some sort, like jet fighters, missiles etc. I’m totally confused as to what is going on.
Of course, my cell phone was dead, but it probably wouldn’t have mattered if it was charged because people were having a difficult time getting through on their phones.
After about an hour waiting we were able to get off the plane at the gate. The scene inside was just total panic. I remember seeing national guard soldiers there with their rifles, dogs etc. Over the intercom, they were repeating “please leave Chicago O’Hare airport as soon as possible.”
I overheard people saying that the attack was coming to Chicago. I have two small kids at home and a wife. I’m stuck at O’Hare with what I thought at the time was an imminent attack. I left my luggage behind and got out to the front of the airport.
I managed to stop a guy driving a rental car shuttle bus and asked if he knew if there were any cars available. He said, “buddy nothing is available, but hop on I’ll take you with me so you’re not stuck here.”
On the ride to the rental car facility, I’m racking my brain to try to figure out how to get out of Chicago. There are no rental cars available, flights are shut down, I was sure trains wouldn’t be an option either.
Then it hit me… I knew what to do. I asked the rental car driver for some directions on where I needed to go and started walking.
I walked for about 20-30 minutes or so and found what I was looking for. U-Haul. I rented a U-Haul truck and drove all the way back to Ohio. And that’s my worst airline travel story. Story credit: Reddit / (Tryns)