Former Chicagoan describes flight diversion on 9/11 to small Canada town

CHICAGO -- Twenty five years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks grounded U.S. air traffic and diverted thousands of passengers to a small town on Canada's Atlantic coast, a former Chicagoan who lived through the ordeal is watching her experience play out on-stage as "Come From Away" opens at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire.

Linda Kloss and her husband were flying home from Europe on 9/11 when their plane, approaching Chicago, was turned around and sent to Gander, Newfoundland, a town of 7,000 people that ultimately took in thousands of stranded travelers.

"The pilot came on and said that United States airspace was closed and we were being diverted to Canada. That's all we knew," Kloss said.

Kloss' flight landed with 32 jets already ahead of it, and passengers spent nearly 24 hours aboard the aircraft as Canadian officials worked to document everyone onboard and find them places to stay.

"They deplaned us one flight at a time and relocated everybody from flight to a place where they would be staying, whether it was a church or a school or a community center," Kloss said.

Kloss spent five days and nights at a Salvation Army outside of town. As she and her fellow passengers tried to process the tragedy unfolding at home, she said she was met with generosity from strangers.

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"They were cooking three meals a day for every passenger on the flight; the supermarket next-door, the IGA supermarket, opened its doors and told the Salvation Army come take all the food you need to cook for these people," she said. "They had legions of volunteers from the community to help us all day long."

Gander's response drew national headlines at the time. In an archival interview with ABC7 Chicago, one Chicagoan caught up in the experience described the town's residents as "the best relatives."

That outpouring of hospitality is now the subject of "Come From Away," the Broadway musical playing at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire. The production's director, Jessica Fisch, was a high school senior in New Jersey when the planes hit the World Trade Center 12 miles from her home.

"This project it felt like an opportunity to honor not only the tragedy of 9/11 here in our own country, but also the immense outpouring of humanity and kindness and mutual respect that the stranded passenger(s) felt in Gander on 9/11," Fisch said.

For Kloss, the memories of those days go beyond shelter and food.

"At night they came and brought instruments and entertained us, and they brought their Newfoundland dogs to show us and dead moose to drive by and see in the back of their pickups. It was the most remarkable experience I've ever had," she said.

Kloss did not return to Chicago until Sept. 16, 2001, on the last United Airlines flight out of Gander. She has since seen "Come From Away" performed in New York, and Fisch said she hopes Kloss and other audience members come away with a sense of the solidarity forged in Gander 25 years ago.

"Come From Away" runs at the Marriott Theatre in the round until Oct. 18.