RismadarVoice Reporters
September 11, 2026
Twenty-five years after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, a Utah union leader has shared his account of being stranded in Canada for nearly three weeks after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all commercial aircraft.
Steve Booth, former president and business agent of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 382, was attending the union’s international convention in Toronto alongside his wife when news of the attack broke.
Booth recalled that delegates from New York received urgent phone calls during the proceedings before abruptly leaving the hall. Minutes later, attendees learned that a commercial airliner had hit the World Trade Center’s North Tower.
Following the immediate grounding of civilian aircraft across North America, thousands of travellers found themselves unable to secure transportation home.
“The people who lived on the East Coast chartered several buses to drive them across the border,” Booth said. “Those who lived in the Midwest or California were stuck.”
Booth and his wife remained stuck in Toronto until Sept. 22, when a hotel bellman notified them that regional airports had reopened.
“I got to our floor as fast as I could, and when I got into the room I told my wife to pack;k we’re leaving,” Booth said.
Upon boarding their return flight, Booth noted that the aircraft was less than half full. When he brought up the low occupancy, a flight attendant informed him that travellers were terrified to board planes, before breaking down in tears. She revealed that a colleague had died aboard one of the hijacked planes in New York.
According to Booth, the cabin remained silent for most of the trip, with U.S. Air Force fighter jets escorting the airliner as it re-entered American airspace.
Booth returned to Utah on the evening of Sept. 22, 2001. Now retired and living in Bountiful, Utah, he noted that the experience left a permanent imprint on his life.
“As long as I live, I will never forget,” Booth said.
