What's the book corporate America doesn't want you to read? Find out now -- or you could get scammed.

What if?

September 11, 2009

wtcWhat if 9/11 never happened?

What if the terrorists were stopped at the airport that day? What kind of a world would we live in now?

How would we travel?


Would the travel industry be in crisis eight years later?

Would they be giving away hotel rooms in Las Vegas?

Would car rental prices be so expensive that we take the bus, instead?

Would “unbundling” have ever happened? Would airlines still lie to us about their fares?

Would we be able to check a bag for free?

Would Northwest Airlines still exist? How about ATA Airlines? And Aloha Airlines? And Independence Air?

Would we have a Transportation Security Administration? Would we have to remove our shoes, surrender our liquids and gels, and subject ourselves to humiliating pat-downs when we fly?

Would we be able to visit Canada and Mexico without flashing a passport at the border?

Would we feel safer overseas?

Would we be at war?

(Photo: Spuz/Flickr Creative Commons)

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

Tagged as: , ,

6 comments

  • http://travel-babel.blogspot.com Claire Walter

    This post is an online journey to Fantasy Island. IMHO, the other “what if” is: “If the 9/11 terrorist attacks had happened but what if the US government had put different policies in place that actually targeted the attack planners while much of the world was united with us in grief rather than waging war on a country that had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11.” Maybe too political for elliott.org — or maybe not.

  • Ron G

    If they hadn’t been successful on that day, they would have kept trying. The hatred that borne these attacks would not have been kept silent forever. Perhaps they would have attacked our society in another manner, maybe they would have attacked our power grid, or chemical plants.

    Asking ‘what if’ will only drive you crazy. You cannot unspill the milk. Things might have been different, but who is to say that they would have been better? Who knows what Plan B was for the bad guys if 9/11 didn’t work out for them.

    Perhaps we would have to show ID to buy fertilizer, or to get on a bus. Perhaps we would have to evacuate thousands of square miles around the remains of an attacked nuclear plant.

    The law of unintended consequences comes into play here. No one knows how things would have played out if things were different. Who would have thought that an airliner hijacking would lead to no water bottles being brought on a plane? The path was strange, but somehow we got here.

  • Carver

    What if is a fun distraction but ultimately meaningless. It is impossible to state with any certainty what might have happened.

  • http://www.ex-United.com/ Stephen

    How might the future be changed, if only the victims had lived? I’ve written my own personal remembrance here:
    http://www.ex-united.com/united-airlines/remembering-911-eight-years-on/

    We must remember and pray for the victims and their families. The story of Deora Bodley (youngest victim on United 93) and her father is especially sad and touching.

    Next, we as a nation must vow to never again let ourselves become something worse, for what we’ve suffered. If we do, bin Laden wins. We must unite again, and be “that shining beacon on a hill” for the rest of the world. God bless.

  • Joe Farrell

    What if the south had won the civil war. . . .would we have 2 nations inhabiting the territory of the US? Or one?

    If the 9/11 plotters had been denied access to the cockpits – or somehow failed – something else would have happened. I’d rather ‘lose’ the WTC than 3 nuclear plants around the nation.

    Terrorists like the big explosion. Otherwise, they’d get wise and attack some fairly soft targets with some pretty serious consequences.

    How about they attack a rural elementary school in every state – demanding we leave the middle east and Israel else they kill all the children in those schools. Beslan writ large; and just when the folks in Montana think they are safe. They are fairly uncreative in their efforts- thankfully.

  • Ernest

    I don’t have solid answers for most of the ‘what if’ but I do believe that we would still have invaded Iraq. Our government (aka Bush Jr.) was looking for an excuse to invade and although there was no evidence Sadam was involved, we invaded.

    Sadam was truly an evil man but had he not been sitting on a mega oil reserve, we would not have wasted our time and soldiers lives on him. I say that because we have not invaded the other “top 10 evil dictators” of the world. He needed to be removed by his citizens, not ours.

    As a patriot who served 24 years and whos son is still serving, I believe in America, just not in our elected leaders honesty.

    So, yes, we would still be in one war or another.

Previous post:

Next post: