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4 travelers missed doomed Air France Flight 447

news.yahoo.com — A reservation mix-up, an overbooking and a Brazilian cabbie's passion for soccer are all that saved some would-be passengers on Air France flight 447 from the fate of 228 others who lost their lives in the mid-Atlantic. The survivors say their relief is overshadowed by the immense sense of loss they feel for those who didn't make it.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jun 5, 2009

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  • lex0429, on 06/05/2009, -0/+29until you miss a flight and end up on one that crashes
  • O8SERVER, on 06/05/2009, -0/+27Lucky folks...

    But if you think about it, I'm pretty sure almost every flight has at least one person who misses it due to being late, reservation mix-ups, etc...
  • emecks, on 06/05/2009, -0/+20I had a friend whose father missed a Chinook back from a North Sea oil rig in the 80s, it ditched due to mechanical failure leaving only 2 survivors. One of the survivors was the pilot, who happened to be a friend of a friend too.

    Both of these men suffered immense feelings of guilt afterwards :(
  • nothin2g, on 06/05/2009, -3/+22but we have to go back, kate!
  • fadingsignal, on 06/05/2009, -2/+20So? That doesn't mean it isn't interesting to hear or think about.
  • d00dtv, on 06/05/2009, -4/+22Hate to tell you this people but they are not survivors. They were never on the plane. They simply missed the flight. It is what it is......LUCK. Simple as that.
  • Janinco, on 06/05/2009, -3/+21Amazing story.
  • Samas11, on 06/05/2009, -0/+16Survivors guilt - I think Kurt Vonnegut also suffered from it after he survived the Dresden firebombing.

    Just in case people wanted to know...
  • alexacastrato, on 06/05/2009, -6/+20How horrible, survivor's guilt is no ***** joke. Can you IMAGINE? I'm deathly afraid of flying, but there were kids on that plane and that would be pretty ***** up to think about.

    I'm an atheist, but if you were one of those people you'd definitely have a ***** sunset-to-sunrise major thinkfest about your life and every piece of ***** thing you've done. Wonder all night why the hell you're on this Earth and not those people on the flight you were meant to perish with.
  • kent1146, on 06/05/2009, -0/+12Well, no, he probably wouldn't have the chance to do much complaining about that scenario either.
  • ifruit, on 06/05/2009, -2/+14Imagine being someone who was "bumped" TO this flight.
  • buddamus, on 06/05/2009, -1/+12Thats lucky, I'm never complaining about missing a flight again
  • mdc10s, on 06/05/2009, -4/+13Are you sure this wasn't Oceanic flight 815.
  • ifruit, on 06/05/2009, -1/+10D
    O
    U
    C
    H
    E
    B
    A
    G
  • chamorro, on 06/05/2009, -1/+10I recall reading a similar story from people who survived the 9/11 attacks, some called in sick that morning, some were simply late to work, one such person I remember reading about was a waitor who worked at the top floor restaraunt of one of the towers, he was running 15 minutes late and actually saw the plane hit his building while in a cab heading to work. Whatever caused him to be late that morning saved his life.
  • lagmar, on 06/05/2009, -2/+10"The survivors say their relief is overshadowed by the immense sense of loss they feel for those who didn't make it."

    *****. They're jumping for joy.
  • SirBruce, on 06/05/2009, -1/+9I'd rather have years of survivor's guilt than a victim's final moments of terror.
  • Falldog, on 06/05/2009, -1/+8It's all just luck of the draw. People are making and missing flights every day to various results.
  • Falldog, on 06/05/2009, -4/+11I think it'd be pretty obvious why you're still alive, a reservation mix up.

    These four weren't meant to perish, neither were the others on 447.
  • mokodo, on 06/05/2009, -0/+7I live in Brazil and I had the opportunity to travel abroad.
    I can tell you FOR SURE, I'd rather go and take my chances than stay and never have the chance to know and interact with other cultures and discover new places and new foods and new people.
  • alecks, on 06/05/2009, -0/+7In fact, it's their fault the plane crashed
  • Falldog, on 06/05/2009, -1/+8I'd be more worried about driving.
  • 13373h4X0r, on 06/05/2009, -2/+8Travel Agent: "Looks like you've missed Air France Flight 447."
    Traveler: "I wouldn't say I've *missed* it..."
  • gotikplage, on 06/05/2009, -2/+7Perhaps if they would have boarded the plane, it never would have went down. Their absence simply proved to be a catalyst in a chain reaction of unfortunate events. Damn you, quantum mechanics!
  • Warom, on 06/05/2009, -1/+6I don't think it is possible to say that if these people got on the plane they would have died, the plane may never have crashed had they got on it, eg, they may have delayed the plane by 10-20 seconds which could have meant that the plane wouldnt get hit by lightning which could....
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect
  • LilRabbitFooFoo, on 06/05/2009, -2/+6And there was a guy on the flight whose boss asked him to stay an extra day for work, so he missed his original flight only to die on this one. And for what? Some stupid job meeting...ahem.
  • jmunjr, on 06/05/2009, -0/+4Had any one of these passengers actually flown the outcome of the flight would have changed. Had the cause of the crash been mechanical due to a failed part of some sort then perhaps it still would have crashed but not in the same place or same time as the original. If it was due to turbulence or a collision of some sort then most likely it never would have happened at all. The addition of one more passenger would have affected the departure time ever so slightly, meaning its position, altitude, direction etc would have also changed ever so slightly, and over such a long distance that could have put the plane sever hundred or thousand (or more) meters from its original point of failure/crash....
  • inactive, on 06/05/2009, -0/+4Knowing is half the battle.
  • inactive, on 06/05/2009, -0/+4Across the Altantic? Yes, I'd be more worried too.
  • Featherlake, on 06/05/2009, -1/+5I had a similar experience, but not plane related.

    I was in Turkey on holiday (vacation) with my then girlfriend and we were due to get a bus from Izmir to Istanbul. We missed the 1st bus by a matter of minutes and had to wait around 2 hours for the next bus. On the way to Istanbul we passed the bus we were meant to be on, it had gone off the road and was on it's side, it had onviously been in a major accident and there must have been serious injuries. Those roads were scarey!
  • NBCLocal, on 06/24/2009, -1/+4True, and next time it happens to you, even if it doesn't save you from some awful disaster, remember that every set back might have a silver lining.
  • Mittens27, on 06/05/2009, -2/+5And one man discovered the city of Rapture.
  • AndrewDB, on 06/05/2009, -4/+7Pretty incredible.
  • riffic, on 06/05/2009, -0/+3so it goes.
  • xero9, on 06/05/2009, -0/+3The real question is, do you count the people who almost bought tickets for this flight survivors too? :P
  • whytey, on 06/05/2009, -2/+5Final Destination 4
  • roebeet, on 06/05/2009, -0/+3I actually knew a few of these people (I used to work at Cantor Fitzgerald - I had left a few years before 9/11/01). One guy I knew was crossing the bridge over the West Side highway to get the work, when the first plane hit. If he had gotten there five minutes earlier, he would have died.

    Cantor had actually laid off some IT people on 9/10/01, believe it or not. Imagine how they must have felt on that Monday, and then 24 hours later.
  • inactive, on 06/05/2009, -0/+3Oddly enough, it's not incredibly pretty.
  • bizchris, on 06/05/2009, -1/+4Sounds like they're still on their way to their Final Destination...
  • LilRabbitFooFoo, on 06/05/2009, -2/+5Only if you are easily impressed.
  • shadowspawn, on 06/05/2009, -0/+2Naw. Rod Serling's The Odyssey of Flight 33. Or the Langoliers by King.
  • rpgmakr, on 06/05/2009, -0/+2WE HAVE TO GO BACK.
  • inactive, on 06/05/2009, -1/+3And we get to watch family guy due to this tangent in the time line.
  • Pixelante, on 06/05/2009, -0/+2Everybody is.
  • roddack, on 06/05/2009, -2/+4so god willed 4 people to live at the cost of 228 peoples lives?

    Gee what a swell person this god fellow is
  • inactive, on 06/05/2009, -1/+3here today gone tomorrow. that is life and death.
  • earlvanze, on 06/05/2009, -0/+2butterfly effect
  • rpgmakr, on 06/05/2009, -0/+2John Locke died. He wasn't that great after all...
  • lolgasmic, on 06/05/2009, -0/+2A good example of somone trying to change the outcome of a fatality, was H.G Wells, The Timemachine.

    Basically trying to alter someones timeline after she got murdered. He went back and took her to a diffrent point she got killed again. he could do this 100 times and see her die a hundred diffrent times.

    So if someones time line ceases to exist in a point of time there is nothing you could do to save them.

    Sorry if it sounds like BS, all my knowlage is in Biology. lol.
  • welestgw, on 06/06/2009, -0/+2Only if you're not using a hovercar.
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