Apparently a few passengers fled the plane after they arrived back at the gate, leaving their luggage. The luggage, when searched contained al-Qaeda documentation and fake ID's, so the people were never found.
Was that true? This was the first I'd ever heard of it.
FYI: This documentary was on the History Channel Tuesday evening; the title was "Grounded on 9/11"
I also found the below. I checked Snopes.com and was surprised that there was no reference..
Shortly after 9:00 a.m., United Airlines Flight 23 receives a warning message from flight dispatcher Ed Ballinger. Flight 23 is still on a Newark, New Jersey, runway, about to take off for Los Angeles. Apparently in response to Ballinger’s message, the crew tells the passengers there has been a mechanical problem and returns to the departure gate. A number of Middle Eastern men (one account says three, others say six) argue with the flight crew and refuse to get off the plane. Security is called, but they flee before it arrives. [CBS News, 10/14/2001; Chicago Daily Herald, 5/14/2004] Later, authorities check their luggage and find copies of the Koran and al-Qaeda instruction sheets. Ballinger suspects they got away. “When all we have is a photo from a fake ID, the chances of finding [someone] in Afghanistan or Pakistan are rather slim.”[Chicago Daily Herald, 5/14/2004] A NORAD deputy commander later says, “From our perception, we think our reaction on that day was sufficiently quick that we may well have precluded at least one other hijacking. We may not have. We don’t know for sure.” [Globe and Mail, 7/13/2002]
Surely, if this was a hoax, someone would have debunked it by now???
Weird.