On the morning of September 11, 2001, MacFarlane was scheduled to return to Los Angeles on American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston, Massachusetts, after delivering a keynote speech at his alma mater. MacFarlane has stated that his travel agent had given him an incorrect departure time (8:15 a.m. instead of 7:45 a.m.)[75] and that he had been suffering from a hangover from the previous night's celebrations.[76] As a result, he arrived at Logan International Airport sometime around 7:30 and was unable to board the flight after being told that the gates had been closed.[75] Fifteen minutes after departure, American Airlines Flight 11 was hijacked,[77] and at 8:46 a.m. was flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, with no survivors.[78]
In an interview with TVShowsOnDVD.com, MacFarlane said the following about his close call:
“ "The only reason it hasn’t really affected me as it maybe could have is I didn’t really know that I was in any danger until after it was over, so I never had that panic moment. After the fact, it was sobering, but people have a lot of close calls; you’re crossing the street and you almost get hit by a car… this one just happened to be related to something massive. I really can’t let it affect me because I’m a comedy writer. I have to put that in the back of my head."[79]
