story3216.xml
Title
story3216.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-11
911DA Story: Story
My husband and I had arrived several hours early to the Denver, CO airport for our flight to return home to Dayton, OH from going to visit our niece in Denver. Sharon, our niece, had mentioned that there was a great place to have breakfast at the Denver airport and watch the news near our concourse. We arrived early enough to try for the earlier flight back to Dayton. When we inquired, we were advised that yes, we could take the ealier flight out of Denver, but would still have to take our chances in Chicago, and most likely would be there waiting all day. We opted to just go and have breakfast.
While having breakfast at the grill at the Denver airport, the breaking news came on announcing that a plane had hit the trade center. Comments were that it was probably a small plane. My husband said from the pictures, that he did not think that it was a small plane. As we watched the terrible thing, the next plane hit. We were stunned! I felt horror for the people. After a few minutes we decided to check on our flights, I noticed that our gate had been moved. I became concerned and suggestion instead of going to the new gate, we go to the customer service station. While waiting in line, an announcement came over advising that all flights were being delayed for seven hours. I told my husband, we are leaving the airport, we were not staying for seven hours. We rebooked our flights for the next day. My worry was other terrorist attacks! We could not get a car rental, all booked. We called my niece, and she came right over, she was the last car let on the airport. By the time she came, they had announced that the airport was closing and all bags would be held. Luckily, we were able to get out before it closed. Others had to wait for buses to take them to town and then disperse from there. We called home to let family know we were safe and not on a plane, before we left the airport. People having cell phones really helped in communications, soon all pay phones, had lines. After Sharon picked us up, we went to here house. We watched the news in horror for the next several days, unable to get a flight or car rental. We were stranded in Denver until Thursday and drove home arriving on Friday. We saw many cars filled with people as we crossed I-70 from Denver to Dayton.
J M Saluke from Dayton, OH
While having breakfast at the grill at the Denver airport, the breaking news came on announcing that a plane had hit the trade center. Comments were that it was probably a small plane. My husband said from the pictures, that he did not think that it was a small plane. As we watched the terrible thing, the next plane hit. We were stunned! I felt horror for the people. After a few minutes we decided to check on our flights, I noticed that our gate had been moved. I became concerned and suggestion instead of going to the new gate, we go to the customer service station. While waiting in line, an announcement came over advising that all flights were being delayed for seven hours. I told my husband, we are leaving the airport, we were not staying for seven hours. We rebooked our flights for the next day. My worry was other terrorist attacks! We could not get a car rental, all booked. We called my niece, and she came right over, she was the last car let on the airport. By the time she came, they had announced that the airport was closing and all bags would be held. Luckily, we were able to get out before it closed. Others had to wait for buses to take them to town and then disperse from there. We called home to let family know we were safe and not on a plane, before we left the airport. People having cell phones really helped in communications, soon all pay phones, had lines. After Sharon picked us up, we went to here house. We watched the news in horror for the next several days, unable to get a flight or car rental. We were stranded in Denver until Thursday and drove home arriving on Friday. We saw many cars filled with people as we crossed I-70 from Denver to Dayton.
J M Saluke from Dayton, OH
Collection
Citation
“story3216.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed January 9, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/4826.