Originally posted by WouldBe
DrJazz I never stated that any pet names were used during the phone calls. I used that as an example of the way people use different vocabulary when talking to different people. When I call my mum I always start with 'Hi mum it's me' which is a turn of of phrase I would not use if phoning to book a plane ticket. So to convince the relatives, whoever 'faked' the phone calls would have had to know what phrases the passengers normally used and you wouldnt get that from a recorded phone call to a ticket desk.
But there is an added factor that needs to be taken into account.
Fear.
If one is calling from a plane that seemingly is going to kill everyone, then a casual 'hi mum it's me' seems somewhat unlikely. C'mon, let's take the context into consideration, eh WouldBe?
I have never been hijacked, but i've been on the phone before and not recognised both my mum and girlfriend. Mates too on occasion don't sound like they normally do.
So there you are watching the tv over the WTC crashes, not exactly normal times, then a relative calls you to say they've been hijacked and about to die. Already in a state of extreme shock, you get this call from, say, your son, and naturally in recalling the phonecall retrospectively, even if you could remember, if you doubted the voice somehow, you'd put it down to the context.
Now, i have proposed a scenario whereby, mainly because of the unique context of the situation, phone calls could be passed off as real enough, even though they weren't.
And any american posters out there able to tell us whether such domestic flights could be expected to have individual phones in all seats?
Or were they pretending to queue for the toilet, then quickly nipping over to the single phone on the plane to make a call while the hijackers weren't looking?
One managing this four times.
I don't know what happened, just conjecturing.