Corrected entry: There is no such thing as a fully booked long-haul flight like the one Mrs. McCallister needs. A few seats are always kept spare in case of emergencies. If not required they are given to airline employees. If an airline would not find her a seat the U.S. Embassy in Paris would, and the airline receptionist would know perfectly well that she had to ring them. One phone call from an embassy staffer and Mrs. McCallister would be on a flight. She is not stupid - she would know exactly what to do.
Phixius
21st Sep 2014
Home Alone (1990)
Correction: Unless two or three of the other millions of people in all of Paris happened to have some sort of an emergency (or even faked one to get a seat) and also needed a flight that same day. Not terrifically unlikely, especially during the holiday season.
Not terrifically unlikely, terrifically impossible. There are eighty flights from Charles de Gaulle airport to the east coast of the USA every day and a similar number from Paris Orly. Mrs McAllister would be on one of those flights even if that meant forcibly removing a paying passenger to accommodate her. That's not my opinion, it's a fact.
I recognize the validity of the 'Emergency Flight Accommodation" deals mentioned above, but here's the thing-a major part of the movie (however unbelievable) is that nobody except Mrs. McAllister recognizes that the situation is an emergency. Take the earlier scene, where a cop is sent over: He knocks on the door a few times. We know that Kevin is home, just hiding under the bed. With no answer, he mutters into his walkie-talkie to "count their kids again", and drives off. That's. It. No further investigation, no repeat police visit. It's basically like Mrs. McAllister is an unreliable woman-who-cried-wolf. Given this, why the hell would an airline in this same 'world' start jostling passengers around and messing with its itinerary? Now that I think about it, a lot of this movie is like a nightmare about a Cassandra Complex, lol.
23rd Jun 2012
Home Alone (1990)
Corrected entry: When Harry comes through the back door, the blowtorch sets his hat on fire, but doesn't seem to damage or set alight the curtains hanging on the back of the door, even though the flame is pretty big.
Correction: Many curtains are available that are either made from a flame-retardant material or are treated to be so; it would make sense for the McCallisters to have such curtains on their door so that, in the event of a house fire, the most obvious exit would also not be engulfed in flames.
Correction: Airlines routinely remove passengers from flights in order to accommodate people who require emergency transport. Just ask Dr David Dao, who was forcibly dragged off a United Airlines flight to make room for another passenger. His is just the most notable case. In fact it happens all the time.
If someone thought to call the embassy.
If Mrs McAllister didn't - and nothing in her character suggests that she is so stupid as to neglect such a vital fact - the one of the airline staff to whom she tells her story either would have told her to or would have done so on her behalf. That is an essential part of their training. As one poster said, it happens all the time.