Fewer passengers onboard the planes than normal

Claim

“On top of the pile of suspicious things, add the unusually low number of passengers onboard each of the hijacked planes on that morning.”⁰

Background

The claim indicates that it should have been advantageous to the hijackers if the planes carried particularly few passengers that day. In that case, it would have been easier to subdue the passengers and hijack the planes.

Facts

If we exclude the seats occupied by the hijackers themselves, occupancy on the planes on Tuesday, September 11 2001, was as follows:

Flight 11

76 passengers out of 158 possible, or ca. 48%, which was a higher occupancy than the former three months of Tuesdays, which was almost 39%.¹

Flight 77

53 passengers out of 176 possible, or ca. 30%, which was marginally lower occupancy than the former three months of Tuesdays, which was almost 33%. ²

Flight 93

33 passengers out of 182 possible, or ca. 18%, which was considerably lower occupancy than the former three months of Tuesdays, which was about 52%. This was actually the lowest occupancy for the whole period.³

Flight 175

51 passengers out of 168 possible, or ca. 30%, which was a lower occupancy than the former three months of Tuesdays, which was about 49%. It should be noted that two other departures during that period was even lower.⁴

There were no cancellations prior to any of the departures. Nine people did not show up¹.

No witnesses claim to have been warned, theoretically up to 490 persons, or the number of empty seats on the four planes.

It is difficult to see a significant pattern regarding the number of passengers, when the distribution of passengers on the planes are:

• Flight 11: Significantly more than usual
• Flight 77: Almost the same as usual
• Flight 93: Significantly fewer than usual
• Flight 175: Some fewer than usual

The claim of suspiciously few passengers is not true, in as much as it only applies for one or two of the planes.

Logic

It is unclear what the claim should indicate in relation to the events on that day.

Some of the passengers were warned in advance

If this is the case, it must have taken place before they booked their seats, since there were no cancellations.

However, this goes against common sense and logic: Not only would people need to be warned, but it must also have been known who were considering booking a seat for one of the departures, in order to warn them. That would require paranormal telepathic powers. Those possessing telepathic powers would already be so powerful that staging false flag terror attacks would not be necessary.

The number of passengers were kept artificially down to ease the take-over of the planes by the hijackers

If this is the case, it seems like a rather superfluous disposition, given that there is nothing in the history of hijacking that points to it being easier to hijack a plane with few passengers compared to many.

This would also put the planning in a rather amateurish light, given that only one plane – Flight 93 – had significantly fewer passenger. Paradoxically, this particular mission failed to hit a strategic target because a group of passengers launched a counter-attack, resulting in the plane crashing before it reached its target, presumably Capitol Hill or the White House.

If some really could manipulate the number of passengers, why not go all the way and make sure that there were almost none or no passengers at all on either of the planes? Or, simpler, allow the hijackers to smuggle firearms and explosives onboard, which would ease the hijacking regardless of how many passengers were onboard. Or, simplest, just give the hijackers full access to the planes. This would most likely have resulted in Flight 93 reaching its intended target.

The claim also contradicts a number of other claims made by conspiracy theorists, namely those indicating that the planes were remotely controlled, and that some of the hijackers were alive after the attack. The claim recognizes that there were, indeed, hijackers. The sources for the claims also calculates the number of hijackers to 19, which excludes that any of them can be alive today.

Conclusion

The claim is therefore:

• False
• Without witnesses
• Undocumented
• Illogical
• Contradicting other claims

Sources

0. “Add to that pile of suspicion the unusually low number of passengers aboard each of the hijacked flights that morning.”

   Flight Manifests and Passenger Lists, 911hardfacts.com

   “…a lingering question is why the passenger loads on the four planes hijacked in US skies are being described by industry officials as “very, very low.””

   Flight 77 Passengers, 911review.org

1. Staff report August 26 2004, National Archives, 9/11 Commission Records, s. 6-7
2. Staff report August 26 2004, National Archives, 9/11 Commission Records, s. 28
3. Staff report August 26 2004, National Archives, 9/11 Commission Records, s. 36
4. Staff report August 26 2004, National Archives, 9/11 Commission Records, s. 19

Q & A