Twenty-five years after answering one of the first calls from a hijacked aircraft on September 11, 2001, former American Airlines reservations agent Vanessa Minter has met the family of flight attendant Betty Ongâthe woman whose calm voice delivered the first warning from American Airlines Flight 11.
The meeting brought together people connected by a telephone conversation that lasted only minutes on the deadliest terrorist attack in United States history.
Ong was aboard Flight 11, traveling from Boston to Los Angeles, when hijackers seized control of the aircraft. From an Airfone near the rear of the plane, she reached the American Airlines reservations center in Cary, North Carolina, shortly after 8:20 a.m.
Minter was the reservations representative who initially answered the call.
âThe first thing out of her mouth is, âI think weâre being hijacked,ââ Minter recalled in an earlier interview about the exchange. She immediately recognized that the call was genuine and alerted other American Airlines personnel.
đşđ¸ || đşđ¸ 9/11 – 25 AĂOS DESPUĂS: 08:19 hrs: Betty Ong del vuelo 11 de American Airlines se comunica con la compaĂąĂa y le seĂąala que el aviĂłn ha sido secuestrado. pic.twitter.com/NQWZwwLmjF
â Alerta News 24 (@AlertaNews24) September 11, 2026
A new CBS News report by Jonah Kaplan revisited that moment as Minter met members of Ongâs family for the first time, a quarter-century after the two women were connected by the emergency call.
Betty Ong reported what was happening aboard Flight 11
Ong, 45, identified herself as the number-three flight attendant aboard Flight 11. Speaking with remarkable control, she told the reservations desk that the cockpit was not responding and that crew members and a passenger had been stabbed.
She also reported that passengers and crew were struggling to breathe in business class because someone appeared to have sprayed mace or another substance.
âThe cockpit is not answering,â Ong said during the recorded portion of the call. âSomebodyâs stabbed in business class ⌠I think we are getting hijacked.â
Minter activated the reservations centerâs emergency procedure and brought supervisors into the conversation. Operations specialist Nydia Gonzalez then monitored the call while relaying Ongâs information to American Airlinesâ System Operations Control center in Fort Worth, Texas.
According to testimony presented to the 9/11 Commission, Ong remained in contact with airline personnel for approximately 23 minutes.
She reported that two or three men had entered the cockpit, that two flight attendants were injured and that a first-class passenger may have been fatally stabbed. She also supplied the seat locations associated with the suspected hijackers, information that later assisted investigators in identifying them.
As the aircraft began flying erratically, Ong and the other crew members moved passengers away from the danger in first class. American Airlines personnel contacted air traffic control and began treating Flight 11 as a confirmed hijacking.
The Boeing 767 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m. All 81 passengers and nine crew members, along with the five hijackers, were killed.
A letter preserved for more than two decades
In the years after the attack, Minter repeatedly rejected suggestions that she should be regarded as the hero of the story.
âTo me, she was the front line,â Minter said in a 2021 interview. âThat was the first information we had on what was going on.â
Several weeks after the attacks, Minter wrote to Ongâs family, offering her condolences and explaining how courageously the flight attendant had acted. Ongâs brother, Harry Ong, kept the letter.
Harry has said that his sister did not use her final opportunity to call home because she remained focused on protecting the passengers and helping those on the ground understand what was happening aboard the aircraft.
The newly reported meeting allowed Minter and the Ong family to finally come together after 25 years of remembering the same call from different sides.
Ong, a San Francisco native, had worked for American Airlines for 14 years. The National September 11 Memorial & Museum remembers her for maintaining her composure and continuing to relay critical information until communication with the plane was lost.
Her family later donated her American Airlines uniform, photographs and other personal objects to the museum. The Betty Ann Ong Foundation was also established to continue her legacy through programs supporting children, senior citizens and community wellbeing.
The reunion came as Americans marked the 25th anniversary of the attacks through memorial services across the country, including the annual September 11 remembrance ceremony at the Pentagon.
For Minter, the passage of time has not erased the sound of the call or the responsibility she felt after answering it. Her description of the woman on the other end has remained consistent: Betty Ong stayed calm, performed her duty and placed the safety of others ahead of herself.
âBetty Ong, to me, was the hero,â Minter said. âShe was the hero. Not me.â
News sources: CBS News, National September 11 Memorial & Museum and the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.
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