AIBU to judge passengers complaining about grounded flights on 9/11?

This is not true at all. Millions watched the second plane hit the tower on live TV.

When I heard about 9/11 in the Uk I was following it online, went home for lunch and watched it on BBC and all my friends were texting each other. The nursery where my son was also knew about it.

With 7/7 I was at the hospital with my baby dd watching it on the tv. DD’s consultant said he had been receiving messages from his family in India asking if he was ok. We were in the midlands.

I think they were common in the US (will google) as I remember the family I was living with being shocked that I was shocked! No idea why it made the news out there though

Some people knew. If you where sat in front of a TV or had a radio in you know. We didn't get instant pings to our phone. Life was different then. Lots of people didn't know untill much later on the day or the next day

Were school shootings already fairly common in the US in the 1990s? If it happened today I can see why it wouldn't be big news in the US, because it's not an uncommon event sadly. We're fairly local and it was an unprecedented event so the news about it was huge, and it is still remembered annually by many people I know.

People did know though.

I lived in the US when Dunblane happened. First I heard about it was seeing it on the front page of the Boston Globe. People I was living with asked me if I knew anyone affected - I was from a town in the midlands!

That's great, I'm not talking about the scale. I'm talking about how soon people heard in other countries and how news travelled before we had internet in our pockets. Off course news travelled faster in American because it happened in their country. The same carnt be said for other countries. I didn't receive a single text about 9/11 on the day, for 7/7 I was texting the receiving messages all day, because I live in england. Yes the scale of 9/11 might have been bigger but on the day of events no one knew that and it wasn't shared as much in the UK. You can only see that with the benefit of hindsight.

I wasn’t talking about the relevance to the country, merely the scale of said atrocities. You keep arguing that only Americans knew about 9/11 straight away though, it won’t make you right.

Judging from the perfect perspective 25 years of hindsight gives you is unreasonable yeah

It was fine. As soon as we watched the second plane fly into the tower we knew there would be an impact. Had colleagues who were stranded in New Foundland for days.

I also remember answering the phone to someone whose husband was flying that day and she was desperately contacting what ever number she could get hold off. Our systems were shut down so I wouldn’t have been able to give her the info even if I’d wanted to.

This is the same as my recollection. With an event like that all channels in the UK would have switched to rolling news as soon as the first plane hit, so if you had access to a television you could follow along live. The delay would be for people who weren't in front of a tv or listening to a radio for whatever reason and unless someone reached out to tell them the news they may not have heard for a couple of hours. I'd be surprised if many people hadn't heard about what had happened by 6pm British Time.

It's a bit like when the shootings in Dunblane happened in 1996. I was in school that day and we started to hear rumours that something bad had happened in Scottish school at lunchtime but it was all very imprecise about what had happened and where. I sat through Chemistry after lunch where the teacher refused to say anything and told us to stop talking about it, then I had English and the teacher let us watch the news on one of the departmental televisions. That's when I learned it had been Dunblane Primary (where my little cousin was at school) and that there were multiple fatalities. That would have been about 2pm, when the shootings had started at about 9.30am.

No it's not. 9/11 was important to Americans which is why they all shared the news story as soon as they heard. It wasn't the same in the UK because we don't live in America. For 7/7 it was shared immediately by text etc because that story was very relevent in the UK because it affected us. Like I said America is not the centre of everything for the majority who live in other parts of the world.

‘No it's not, 7/7 was a much more important news story to many people in the UK, far more so than 9/11. Besides people in the UK who weren't watching a TV didn't know about 9/11 till much later because we didn't have constant internet, I didn't receive one text about it. 7/7 was a completely different story’

Despite being evacuated from my city office and listening to the controlled detonations around me on 7/7, it was a tiny story compared to 9/11.

9/11 spurred a trillion dollar war and changed air travel for decades, as well as having a major impact on financial markets. 7/7 was pretty much a one day event, apart from everyone being on high alert and the unfortunate shooting of the poor Brazilian on the underground.

@ColdAsAWitches ,

I posted above of my experience and it is your memory that is defective. The first plane hitting was immediately covered but a lot of people thought it was a light aircraft accident. The second plane crashing into the towers was on live TV, as was the towers collapse.

9/11 really wasn’t the dark ages. There was certainly internet and phones, albeit not smart phones.

From AI, which agrees with my memory;

‘The first plane (American Airlines Flight 11) hit the North Tower at 8:46 AM. Most news networks were not broadcasting it live initially—they switched to coverage after the impact.

The second plane (United Airlines Flight 175) hit the South Tower at 9:03 AM, and this collision was captured live on many news broadcasts. Millions of people watched it happen in real time as networks were already covering the first crash.’

I remember watching it with my colleagues in total disbelief. To be fair, the first plane crash wasn’t covered live, and nor was the Pentagon one, but it was all happening on streaming news in real time.

No really, it’s a wild comparison to make. Genuinely.

I was a child during 9/11 but remember it vividly and had to fly during the aftermath.

I was at a party recently and talking to a couple who seemed “a bit younger” than me. 9/11 was mentored and I said that I had watched it on TV and they were incredulous and I assumed they were disbelieving it was shown on tv, but no they were incredulous I was so old to have been alive in 2001…🤦‍♀️

No it's not, 7/7 was a much more important news story to many people in the UK, far more so than 9/11. Besides people in the UK who weren't watching a TV didn't know about 9/11 till much later because we didn't have constant internet, I didn't receive one text about it. 7/7 was a completely different story

But would an American? Most Americans have no clue what's happening outside the American bubble.

Comparing 7/7 to 9/11 is absurd.

Im not in America, I was in a small village in Scotland and I watched the second plan hit live - in quite sure the TV channels interrupted normal broadcasts and went live as soon as they could.

Another American thinking the whole world revolves around America 🙄 it doesn't. Pre internet on every devise people in other countries didn't know what was happening in there own country never mind America, most of the time I didn't have my mobile with to even see texts, not that I got any on 9/11. The only way you would find out was if you where watching the news or had a radio on. Clue, America is not the centre of most people's lives.

Well I heard about 7/7 pretty quickly.

I lived in a village in Tenerife!

So of news travelled there ……

The rest of the world is not America. In other countries we didn't hear about it because we don't live in America. Did you hear about 7/7 in the same way? I doubt it.

The footage of the first plane was from Jules Naudet who was out with firefighters.

The Naudet brothers' film of 9/11 is well worth a watch, it is a case of right place, right time for film making.

They were filming a documentary following a probationary fire fighter.

So you get footage like the first plane hitting, but also footage of the empty fire station while everyone is out working.

Um, you experience isn’t universal either, babe. I fully believe you were in a sleepy little English village and didn’t hear about it straight away Okay, fine. But “I personally didn’t see the footage until the next day” and “nobody saw footage of the second plane until the next day” are two completely different statements. One is your experience. The other is just factually wrong.

In the U.S., people were watching live news coverage, offices and schools had TVs on, phones were ringing and the second plane was seen in real time by millions so yes, your village shop may have been several hours behind on the chaos but that doesn’t somehow rewrite what was being broadcast everywhere else. “My experience wasn’t the same” is a valid point. “Therefore nobody saw it” is not.