Flightplan

Flightplan (2005)

11 mistakes since 22 Apr '17, 00:00

(22 votes)

Plot hole: Gene's plot has far too many holes for it to have had any chance of working in real life. He somehow must get himself assigned to that particular flight (OK, maybe as a flight marshal he could persuade his superiors to assign him to it) - but also hope that the air stewardess Stephanie is also assigned to that flight - something he has no control over. He then needs to push Jodie Foster's husband off a building, hope the corpse is taken to the only morgue in the city with a crooked morgue director, hope the coffin is assigned to the flight he is on. On top of that, he needs to get explosives into a coffin, the combination of which he actually says he doesn't know. He also needs to hope no-one notices the child, the child doesn't make a noise while boarding, there are lots of spare seats on this inaugural flight, and that mother and daughter move to them.

swordfish

Factual error: Jodie Foster states that as a propulsion engineer, she knows the internal structure of the plane by heart and has worked extensively on it. The problem with that is that propulsion engineers work on the jet engines - which are all on the outside of the plane, on the wings. Sure, a propulsion engineer might have some basic knowledge of the plane's interior design and engineering, but the in-depth knowledge she claims comes from her job simply isn't right - that's the job of avionics engineers.

swordfish

Plot hole: The premise of Carson framing Kyle is utterly ridiculous. Not only the fact that the authorities would never accept a ransom demand without speaking to a supposed hijacker, but Carson has absolutely no evidence to give that Kyle is a hijacker, and yet the FBI somehow all know who she and treat her as a hijacker just from her looking at them from the plane door. The movie seems to act as if an Air Marshal's word alone is enough to convince the authorities that a crime or hijacking is happening aboard.

Other mistake: At the very end, Jodie Foster's daughter is drugged and not given any medical attention until hours later when she wakes up. Giving medical attention to a person, especially a child, that is the victim of a crime is easily one of the first things that law enforcement would do. Obviously done to make the final scene more dramatic. (01:28:50 - 01:31:30)

Movielover1996

Character mistake: When the plane is speeding down the runway at the beginning, a female flight attendant is seen walking, and Kyle is seen buckling her seat belt. Everyone would have been sitting down and buckled in at this point.

Factual error: Carson says that the explosives were put inside the casket because caskets aren't X-rayed. Even though often times cargo such as the casket are sent by "known shippers", and known shippers check screen the casket, they are still X-rayed by airport security. There are no exceptions to X-raying cargo, even if it was already deemed secure.

Character mistake: An air marshal would not give such leeway to someone detained for such disruption. The person would be detained and immediately routed to the nearest airport for investigation or arrest.

Plot hole: The hijackers somehow know who Kyle is, and what her job is, and what kind of family she has even though Kyle doesn't appear to have known them prior to meeting them on the plane. The only time she met the morgue director was at the beginning of the movie when she went to see her husband's body before deciding to board the plane, so there is no way they could have known who Kyle was, and that she had a husband, and an only child, for a whole host of reasons. Firstly, the information about passenger plane designers is protected by very tight security to keep people from having access to to it. Secondly, passenger plane designers are secretive people who don't speak publicity about their jobs. Thirdly, passenger plane designers rarely interact with Air Marshals, and flight attendants, as they all work in different places. These three reasons I mentioned are to keep people from learning about avionics engineers, and their families in order to prevent the exact thing the hijackers were the trying to do - framing an avionics engineer.

Revealing mistake: In the beginning of the movie, at the scene in the morgue, dead David's eyelids very slightly shake right before his casket is closed. (00:04:20)

Bunch Son

Factual error: Human remains, while sealed in a casket, are always transported in a protective box. This box, usually cardboard, has "human remains" placards all over it.

Other mistake: When Kyle enters the bathroom to climb up in the room above it to mess with the wires, she locks the door. Yet the door opens for Carson to check it.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Actually, she escaped so that's why the door is now unlocked.

Suggested correction: Lavatory doors can easily be unlocked/opened by flight crew.

Kyle: You get off the plane when I say you get off the plane.

Bunch Son

More quotes from Flightplan

Trivia: The role of Kyle was originally written for a male character, but when Jodie Foster expressed interest, the filmmakers felt she was strong enough to carry the part and cast her instead.

Macalou

More trivia for Flightplan

Question: At the end of the movie, when they are at the tip of the plane, Jodi and her daughter slip into a tiny compartment, just as she activates the bomb. She and her daughter are safe, and the small space they were in must have been bomb-proof. Since that compartment is at a part of the plane that is rarely visited, how come a tiny place was made entirely bomb-proof? Or what was the space they climbed into and for what reason was it made?

Answer: The hatch they climb into is the hold of the plane, i.e., the section with the coffin, the car, and all the other luggage in. It only appears small because of the way it is filmed. As Kyle would have known, it would have been extra strong and reinforced, as it was a break in two sections of the plane.

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