It makes more sense than 80 people surviving a plane breaking into 3 pieces and falling 35000 feet out of the sky.
Perhaps the rest of the passengers noticed the 6 at least somewhat famous Oceanic passengers sitting at the front of the plane and decided not to take that dream vacation to Guam. 
Not sure, but after that scene I looked at phungal and said "if you want to play ‘Lost,’ let me know and I will start things off with ‘where’s Aaron’ "
A)Lamp-post is the line of demarcation between Narnia and the Professor’s closet. Oh those whacky literary Dharma folks.
B)Timekeeper Lady STOLE the show with her science lecture.
C)Desmond’s exit makes me worry for Penny and Charlie. “I’m through with the island”/"The island’s not through with you.
D)Doesn’t anyone ever ask “Why”? EVER?
- Why does the Island want us in particular?
- Why does the Island want ANYTHING?
- What IS the Island?
- You’re using the term “Electro-magnetic energy” in a way that’s unheard of outside of SPACE-1999*–what the hell?
- Why a plane–why not a boat? Why kill all those other people?
E) Did we ever see grandpa before?
F) “You will never ask me about Aaron again”–um. No. I’ll ask you if he was kidnapped or what. Did you kill Aaron? You are a psycho, after all." (I’m guessing that Ghost-Claire came and got him.)
G) Good for Hurley. Once again proving he’s one of the only two or three moral people on the show. (By buying all the extra tickets)
H) How much you wanna bet that the Locke’s note will say “Don’t bring Ben back!” (This guess? 100% wrong)
I) Why didn’t Lepetis turn back? He KNEW what was going to happen.
J) “How can you read?”/“My mother taught me. :rolleyes:” Ben is SUCH a dick. And the actor is SO good.
*A build up of “electro-magnetic radiation” blew the moon in half and sent it hurling through the universe at faster than light speeds. But somehow steerable. Hey, maybe the Island is a piece of Space: 1999’s moon!
Ben’s “who cares?” line was the highlight of the show for me.
What I was trying to figure out was whether there was anyone filling in as Locke (i.e. a guy in a wheelchair) on the Ajira flight. Maybe Ben, being all beat to hell and with his arm in a sling, but definitely not the same thing as a paraplegic.
I didn’t find it on Lostpedia yet but has anyone done a comparison to where they were sitting on the plance compared to the Flight 815 seating chart?
Jack didn’t ask Ben about his beat up condition because they were getting near the island. The island robs you of the ability to ask obvious questions.
Or because he hates the guy and wishes him a slow painful death. 
My favorite thing about that line is that it’s… wait for it… another lie.
Heh, and that’s a very Lapidesque line in itself.
-FrL-
[raises hand]
I thought it was cheesy writing and overwrought acting.
[/quietly lowers hand]
-FrL-
Hurley bought up all the other seats.
-FrL-
There was a brief scene where Jack and Ben glance back from what I assume is the first class section and see people. Jack asks Ben, “what about the other passengers.” Ben says, “who cares?” So I think Hurley bought up all of the *unsold *tickets, but probably only did that a day or so before they left.
Yet more proof that Jack is too self-absorbed to actually give a damn about the poor kid, nephew or not. Aaron’s lucky that Kate didn’t marry Jack after all.
B)Timekeeper Lady STOLE the show with her science lecture.
I have to agree. The show kind of came off it’s rails at that point for me.
Lucky it quickly got back on track after they left.
OK the Hurley thing and the seats on the plane.
Many of the seats on the plane were already sold when Hurley got there at which time he became aware that there were plenty of seats left for anybody who either wanted a ticket or had a standby fare.
Airlines usually specify standby until 20 minutes to board since standbys represent either a bargain based fair or a normal fair wanting to board a flight other than their original assigned. They do this to maximize their potential to sell full fairs as late as possible.
Hurley knew he couldn’t do anything about the people already holding tickets and the counter person told him that there were standbys waiting so he knew that he could save SOMEBODY by buying up all of the remaining fares at full price.
The O6 must have been in the business of first class session and the lower class fares (which usually sell out fast) were behind them.
The class difference could also explain the standby situation. Many people who didn’t want to pay for business or 1st class may have been familiar with the fact that the route doesn’t usually fill up except for coach and so there could have ben many standbys that Hurley pissed off but saved.
Of course, they won’t even know they were (or weren’t) saved because it looks like the plane didn’t crash. But we’re led to believe that all of the returnees assumed it would.
Frank was supposed to be the pilot for Oceanic 815. Perhaps the Island wanted Frank there, and so killed Pilot Parkman via the Smoke Monster because he wasn’t Frank?
I recognized him as the “no problem my main man” guy from Three Kings.
Well, that and he knows Ben well enough to know that the guy just attracts beatings.