CelebnMusic247.com reports long before Seth MacFarlane became the powerhouse behind Family Guy, American Dad! and Ted, the young animator reportedly came frighteningly close to being aboard one of the planes hijacked on September 11, 2001.
It is a story MacFarlane has recounted publicly for years—and one that remains chilling more than two decades later.
He was scheduled to fly from Boston to Los Angeles aboard American Airlines Flight 11.
But MacFarlane never got on the plane.
And less than two hours after its scheduled departure, every person aboard Flight 11 was dead.
Seth MacFarlane Was Only 27 When Everything Changed
In September 2001, Seth MacFarlane wasn’t yet the entertainment mogul audiences know today.
Family Guy had premiered only a couple of years earlier, and the 27-year-old writer and animator was still establishing himself in Hollywood.
The night before his scheduled flight home, MacFarlane had been at his alma mater, the Rhode Island School of Design, where he gave a lecture. Drinks with faculty members followed.
That late night would become part of a sequence of events that MacFarlane says kept him off Flight 11 the following morning.
He Was Supposed to Be on American Airlines Flight 11
MacFarlane was booked to travel from Boston’s Logan International Airport to Los Angeles on the morning of September 11.
His flight was American Airlines Flight 11.
MacFarlane has said his travel information listed a departure time roughly 10 minutes later than the flight’s actual scheduled departure, adding to the problems of an already difficult morning.
When he finally arrived at the counter, it was too late.
MacFarlane has recalled telling the airline employee that he was booked on Flight 11, only to be informed that he had missed it.
At the time, it must have seemed like nothing more than an incredibly frustrating travel mistake.
Minutes later, missing that flight would take on an unimaginable meaning.
MacFarlane Fell Asleep—Then Woke Up to Horror
Unable to board Flight 11, MacFarlane booked another flight and waited at the airport.
He fell asleep in a lounge.
MacFarlane has said that roughly 45 minutes later, he awoke to a commotion around him.
Something was terribly wrong.
Television screens were showing smoke pouring from New York City’s World Trade Center.
American Airlines Flight 11—the aircraft MacFarlane says he had expected to board that morning—had been hijacked and deliberately crashed into the North Tower.
Everyone aboard was killed.
What had initially looked like a missed flight had become one of the most haunting near-misses of MacFarlane’s life.
But There Is a Mystery Surrounding His Reservation
There is, however, an interesting discrepancy that has followed the story.
A researcher who examined American Airlines cancellation records reported that MacFarlane’s reservation appeared to have been canceled at 6:34 a.m.
If accurate, that would have been significantly earlier than the point at which MacFarlane’s account suggests he was turned away because he had arrived too late.
That doesn’t necessarily establish that MacFarlane’s broader recollection is false. Records can reflect actions or processes travelers aren’t necessarily aware of, and memories surrounding traumatic events can also differ in timing and detail.
Still, MacFarlane apparently hasn’t publicly resolved that specific discrepancy, leaving an unanswered question surrounding the precise sequence of events that morning.
What isn’t disputed is that MacFarlane was not aboard Flight 11 when it departed Boston.
The Incredible Mark Wahlberg Connection
The story becomes even stranger when another Hollywood star enters the picture.
Mark Wahlberg—who would later work with MacFarlane on Ted—has also been widely reported as having originally planned to travel on Flight 11.
Wahlberg reportedly changed his travel plans before September 11, choosing instead to charter a plane as part of a trip that included Toronto.
That means two men who would eventually become major collaborators on one of Hollywood’s biggest comedy franchises had connections to the same doomed flight.
Years later, however, Mark Wahlberg‘s account became the center of controversy.
Wahlberg’s 9/11 Comments Sparked Outrage
In a 2012 interview with Men’s Journal, Wahlberg suggested that events aboard the hijacked aircraft might have unfolded differently had he been there.
His comments immediately generated backlash, particularly because passengers and crew aboard the hijacked planes faced an unimaginable and unprecedented situation.
Families of victims were understandably angered.
Wahlberg subsequently apologized, describing his comments as irresponsible and acknowledging that speculating about what he might have done was inappropriate.
A Missed Flight That Changed Everything
Stories of missed flights, changed schedules, delayed meetings and last-minute decisions have become an eerie part of the history surrounding September 11.
For MacFarlane, the circumstances were remarkably ordinary.
A late night.
A difficult morning.
Confusion surrounding a departure time.
A missed flight.
Any one of those things would normally be little more than an inconvenience.
On September 11, 2001, they meant something entirely different.
MacFarlane went on to build an extraordinary entertainment career, turning Family Guy into a television institution and expanding into American Dad!, Ted, films, music and numerous other projects.
Yet behind that success remains the haunting knowledge that, according to the story he has told for years, he was supposed to be traveling to Los Angeles aboard American Airlines Flight 11 that morning.
Sometimes the smallest moments—a delay, a mistake, being ten minutes late—can change the entire course of a person’s life.
And in MacFarlane’s case, missing one flight may have changed everything.
CelebnMusic247 Take
This isn’t a story that needs exaggeration to be powerful.
MacFarlane’s near-miss is haunting precisely because the circumstances he describes were so normal. Most of us have overslept, arrived late at an airport or watched a gate close before we could reach it.
Usually, it’s frustrating.
On that particular morning, the consequences were almost impossible to comprehend.
More importantly, stories like MacFarlane’s should never overshadow the 2,977 victims killed in the September 11 attacks, along with the families, survivors and first responders whose lives were permanently changed.
More than 25 years later, their lives and stories remain the most important part of remembering September 11.
