Flightplan Page #4

To Kyle's right are TWO LIBYAN MEN, also being searched. The

GUARDS seem a bit more curious about these guys.

INT. TERMINAL - DEPARTURE GATE - 7:15 P.M.

Kyle stands at a window. Outside, framed by the blowing snow,

is an AIRJET:
an enormous beast, bigger by far than a 747.

Various tarmac vehicles service it, dwarfed by its size.

JULIA (O.S.)

It's so big.

Julia's by Kyle's side, her nose pressed against the glass.

KYLE:

The biggest.

JULIA:

What kind is it, mom?

KYLE:

An Airjet. Brand new.

JULIA:

Did you make it?

KYLE:

Just some of its systems.

Then Julia sees something that makes her four year-old eyes

go wide:
two GROUNDS CREW GUYS on the wing of this giant

plane, fueling it. They're 30 feet off the ground.

JULIA:

What if they fall?

KYLE:

Don't worry. They're not gonna fall.

JULIA:

But they could...

Kyle gets the inference. She squeezes Julia's hand. Then she

hears a P.A. VOICE behind them announcing that it's PRE-

BOARDING TIME. "Passagiere mit Kleinkindern," etc.

KYLE:

That's us. Got your ticket?

(Julia taps her backpack)

Let's go.

They head for the jetway, a few passengers ahead of them.

CUT TO:

INT. AIRJET - MAIN DECK - LEFT AISLE - NIGHT

We're tight on a "Welcome to Airjet!" video. In it, faces of

every ethnicity morph into one another as they tell us about

the multi-national teamwork that made this plane possible.

"Enjoy your flight" in 25 different languages.

We PULL BACK... taking in the 370 seats on this Main Deck,

all EMPTY now. The Airjet is a monster. Unfueled it weighs

626,000 pounds. 17 galleys. 17 lavatories. Huge. Vast. With

that "welcome to Airjet!" Video playing on every seatback.

...and we've only seen half of it yet. We CRANE UP... through

the ceiling of the Main Deck, into:

INT. AIRJET - UPPER DECK - LEFT AISLE - CONTINUING

...now we're in the UPPER DECK, which boasts another 210

seats:
96 Business, 114 Coach - all of them EMPTY, all of

them playing that same "Welcome to Airjet!" video.

We PUSH IN... as Kyle emerges from a STAIRWAY connecting the

two decks, with Julia over her shoulder. They're the first

two passengers to board. It's like being the only two people

in the Superdome.

Kyle finds Row 24, and gestures to 24A, the window seat.

KYLE:

That's your seat, Sweetie.

Julia slips into it, dwarfed by it, as Kyle pulls items from

Julia's BACKPACK: the muesli, the orange juice carton, some

Dr. Seuss books, the Groovy-Girls dolls.

Then, thinking better of it, Kyle puts the dolls back into

the backpack, and throws the backpack into the overhead bin,

beside her own carry-on.

Other voices begin to filter in now - more families with

children. The voices of one family grow nearer to us:

APPROACHING BOY:

I'm taking the window.

APPROACHING GIRL

I'm taking it.

That's a ten year-old American kid and his sister, who are on

their way down this aisle, parents in tow. They continue:

APPROACHING BOY:

Dad said.

APPROACHING GIRL

Did not. He said you had the aisle.

APPROACHING BOY:

Shut up.

APPROACHING GIRL

You shut up.

THEIR FATHER:

Both of you shut up!

Let's call this bunch the LOUD FAMILY. The boy is named

RHETT. His eight year-old sister is BRITTANY. Mom and Dad

will be known to us as MR. and MRS. LOUD.

Kyle, seated in 24B now, eyes the Lauds as they near us...

RHETT ("APPROACHING BOY")

I had the middle the whole way here.

BRITTANY ("APPROACHING GIRL")

Did not. We switched over Greenland.

MRS. LOUD

Bobbbb...

MR. LOUD

Awright, kids. You heard your mom.

Meanwhile, Julia spots something on the floor, something

shiny - it's a kid's TOY, an airplane, three inches long.

Julia slips out of her seat and grabs it, as:

RHETT:

You don't even know where Greenland

is.

BRITTANY:

Dadddddd.

Maybe they'll go right past us. Ten rows away would be nice.

MR. LOUD

Okay. We're Row 23. Now how're we

gonna work this out?

Rhett dives for the window seat in Row 23, directly in front

of Julia's seat.

BRITTANY:

Daddddddd!

MR. LOUD

That's nice, Rhett. Very big-

brotherly of you.

RHETT:

Why's she get everything all the

time?

Eight hours with this bunch... Great. The Louds settle in.

Kyle looks down at Julia, who remains on the floor, playing

with that toy airplane now:

KYLE:

Want some juice, Sweetie?

JULIA:

No, thanks.

Kyle sits back, sighs. We're on board. We're leaving Berlin.

It's going to be okay.

INT. AIRJET - MAIN DECK - MINUTES LATER

280 PASSENGERS are on this deck now: Germans, Czechs, Poles,

Americans, Asians, settling in. The back five rows are empty.

INT. AIRJET - UPPER DECK - ROW 24 - SAME

There are roughly 120 PEOPLE filling this deck's 210 seats,

leaving the back ten rows of this deck completely EMPTY.

The TWO LIBYAN MEN Kyle saw at the metal detector settle into

Row 17. Two other MIDDLE-EASTERN MEN take seats in Row 16.

Kyle notices them, then judges herself for doing so.

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