On the morning of September 11, 2001, MacFarlane was scheduled to return to Los Angeles on American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston. Suffering from a hangover from the previous night’s celebrations,^[125] and with an incorrect departure time (8:15 a.m. instead of 7:45 a.m.) from his travel agent,^[126] he arrived at Logan International Airport about ten minutes too late to board the flight as the gates had been closed.^[126] Fifteen minutes after departure, American Airlines Flight 11 was hijacked,^[127] and at 8:46 a.m. it was flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, obliterating the airplane, and killing everyone on board.^[128]

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.^[129]”