At the time of her death, Ong lived in Andover, Massachusetts. On September 11, 2001, she was on Flight 11 so that she could go back to Los Angeles and go on a vacation to Hawaii with her sister. When the plane was taken over, she called in to American Airlines and told them that the plane had been taken over. During her call, she said that none of the crew could open the cockpit door, a passenger and two flight attendants had been hurt, and that she thought someone had sprayed Mace or something else in business class. She also told them which seats the terrorists on the plane were sitting in.