Airline’s 9/11 episode is a perfect snapshot of the day the world changed

‘Look at me, I’ve only got half a bottle of milk!’

As historical quotes about the tragedy of September 11 go, that comment from a young mum stuck at Luton airport is unlikely to rank alongside the harrowing, ‘Sir, a second plane has hit the second tower’ or ‘Are you guys ready? Let’s roll!’.

But as I reflect on the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, it’s the one that sticks in my head. 

Because it is from what I consider one of the most instructive pieces of documentary footage from that day and the weeks that followed. 

And it is not one of the many incredible dramatic retellings of the events, like United 93 or the BBC’s underrated docudrama Zero Hour, but in fact a show that has recently been given a second life thanks to social media – Airline. 

The ITV reality documentary, which aired from 1998-2007, shows the goings on at regional British airports (with particular focus on easyJet hubs in Luton and Liverpool) and several of the staff became household names. 

There was Katrina Leeder, who never lost her sparkle in the wake of a seasons-long cancer battle.

There was no-nonsense Scouse supervisor Leeanne Chung, who could silence the most unruly passengers with just a look.

And we can’t forget Jane Boulton, who spoke for everyone who has ever struggled at work by saying she would unwind following a stressful day by ‘having about 50 fags, a nice hot bath, and a bottle of wine.’

Clips of all of those stars, and some of the wildest passengers (like the man who talks about splitting up from his wife in the bar) have all gone viral in recent years as Gen Z comes to appreciate the nostalgia of a different time, different attitudes, and just the exact kind of eccentric characters who exist in Britain. 

One of the episodes that I will never forget is the 9/11 special, which aired in May 2002 as part of the show’s sixth series. 

It shows staff struggling to deal with the impact of the attacks in America, the knock-on effect on aviation globally, and angry passengers who you would like to think were slightly embarrassed when they saw themselves showing a distinct lack of understanding and patience. 

For me, it’s the perfect snapshot of just how the world changed – an account of that one single day where the relative peace of the 90s melted away in an instant to be replaced by the global instability that has defined the first quarter of the 21st century. 

Even the technology straddles the old and the new, with panicked staff alternating between the internet and fax machines as cancellations mount and advice from the then Tony Blair-led government tells them to massively increase security measures. 

Watching it, you might be forgiven for expecting a bit of Stiff Upper Lip British behaviour as passengers form orderly queues and agree to do as they are told in the circumstances. 

Knowing what we now know about the scale of the terrorist attacks, you might even predict an outbreak of ‘Come From Away’ style solidarity, as passengers and staff rally round, appreciate shared humanity, and realise previous issues just don’t seem as important anymore. 

Well tuning into series six episode four will disabuse you of that notion.

Passengers behave appallingly, showing callous disregard for the incidents unfolding in the USA, seemingly blissfully unaware of the impact it will have, or refusing to take no for an answer. 

‘Be glad you’ve got a life really,’ easyJet representative Laura remarks to camera at one point, sick of customers at Liverpool Airport with no sense of perspective and who keep insisting ‘this isn’t America, what’s the problem?’ 

As September 11th ticks into the 12th, staff are continually berated, customers demand compensation for the harm they have suffered (which you would think is relatively small compared to the harm suffered by those in New York) and generally act poorly. 

Marie, the aforementioned mum running out of milk, is told that she’ll have to wait three days to get back to Belfast, and angrily announces that she’ll stand at the gate like a chained-to-railing protestor until she’s allowed on.

It seems a brave gambit with armed police patrolling the concourse and tensions high, and is just one of a number of incidents that highlights just how relatively relaxed airport security was before the attacks. 

I don’t recall much about Airline on ITV growing up, but I do remember 9/11, and it clearly had a massive impact on me, given I’ve had a decades-long fear of flying and have only been on a plane four times in the past 20 years. 

It might feel a little odd to be an aviophobic fan of Airline, but for the past 18 months or so I’ve been greedily binge watching the show, inhaling compilations and TikTok edits showcasing the wildest passengers and some of the more unedifying freakouts from entitled travellers. 

The show, mostly narrated by Blackadder and Time Team icon Tony Robinson, largely follows the same pattern and you can track the change in the wider industry as Luton becomes a hub for easyJet just as no-frills, low cost airlines start to truly flourish. 

That 9/11 episode therefore becomes a turning point in more ways than one.

Before 2001, some of the wild things passengers got away with truly take your breath away. In one early clip, a Swiss businessman tries to physically charge through security like it’s a Gladiators gauntlet. 

A teenager attempts to get on a flight with her twin’s passport, while a French woman shrieks at the top of her lungs ‘I’m a big terrorist’ because they won’t allow her cat into the country. 

In other pre-9/11 episodes, customers rock up less than 20 minutes before takeoff and demand to be let on, threaten the check-in staff, and in possibly my favourite Airline moment ever, one passenger after being advised of a technical fault on her flight asks ‘can you tell me what the fault is because my husband’s an engineer?’

Maybe that’s why young people (and even those terrified of flying like me) have flocked to clips of Airline. 

Maybe, more than anything, it represents a simpler, safer time. A time before 9/11 seemed to permanently raise everyone’s anxiety on flights and in general life to a level it has yet to come down from. 

A time when you could pay in cash, take liquids on, and get a no-frills flight with truly no frills. 

That’s why on the anniversary of the day when everything changed, I always watch that strange half hour of television, when you can see two eras of travel clash. 

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk. 

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