Continuity mistake: When Dinah starts walking over the cafe counter to find Toomey, Rudy can be seen behind with his hands at his side. When it cuts to a wide shot of the cafe, he is suddenly holding onto back of a chair with his right hand. (01:41:52)
Continuity mistake: After Nick has finished explaining to Dinah that he has to get the blade out, in the close-up shot of Dinah while Nick says "Fold those two table cloths", Nick has his hand on top of Dinah's head. In the next shot, his hand is away from her head. (01:46:30)
Continuity mistake: After Albert knocks Craig Toomey unconscious with the toaster, as it shows different angles of him laying on the floor, his tie is alternately hanging out/tucked into his suit. (01:48:55)
Continuity mistake: When Albert strikes Toomey with the bag for the last time, in the shot of Toomey turning around after getting struck, Albert is holding the bag with his left hand. When Toomey lands on the ground in the next shot, Albert is suddenly holding the bag with both hands. (01:49:18)
Continuity mistake: When Bethany meets up with Bob, and they wonder where everyone is, Bethany is shown putting a cigarette in her mouth. The cigarette is straight and unbent when she places it in her mouth, but in the next shot, the cigarette is suddenly bent slightly. (01:52:20)
Continuity mistake: When Albert is explaining to Nick how Toomey killed Gaffney, in the shot where he says "If I'd have walked in first he would've killed me instead", he is looking straight forward. When the shot cuts, Albert is suddenly looking at Nick. (01:53:25)
Continuity mistake: Albert knocks Toomey out with a toaster. You can see during several subsequent shots that there is only a small amount of blood on Toomey's forehead and none at all on his face. Toomey lies there unconscious for a while, without changing position, and when he wakes up, suddenly his whole face is cut up and bloody. (01:54:00 - 01:59:05)
Continuity mistake: When preparing to fuel up the plane, Bethany bends down and opens the fuel tank. Once she stands back up, her back is hunched forward slightly, her right arm is in a reaching position and her leg is bent. When the shot cuts, she is standing fully upright, her arm is no longer reaching downward and her leg is unbent. (02:01:10)
Continuity mistake: When Dinah projects the image of the board room into Toomey's mind, there is a moment where he trips over a few meters away from Albert and Bob. After Dinah tells him to keep running, there is a shot of Toomey continuing to run. But a couple seconds after that, it's shown that he hasn't even ran past Albert and Bob yet, even though he wasn't far from them a couple seconds ago and kept running. (02:09:10)
Continuity mistake: When Toomey is about to tell the board room how much money he made, he says "I didn't make any", before being interrupted by his father's voice. He grabs onto the side of his head and points his head downward slightly. In the next shot, his head is suddenly pointed down further. Then in the shot after that, his head is back to its original position. (02:10:35)
Continuity mistake: When Toomey's father is telling Toomey to tell the board room that he lost the money and that it was a mistake, in the shot from behind Toomey, his hands are placed flat over his ears. When the shot cuts back to him, it is now the sides of his hands over his ears. (02:10:41)
Continuity mistake: The holes which the Langoliers make near the aeroplane, when they chase after Criag Toomy, change position, size, shape, move closer to the plane and then finally vanish. (02:13:30)
Continuity mistake: When the Langoliers bite off Toomey's leg, he falls to the ground and his tie can be seen falling over his right shoulder. When the camera cuts to an angle behind him, the tie cannot be seen over his shoulder. A couple of shots after that, the tie suddenly over his chest. (02:14:35)
Continuity mistake: When Toomey is begging his father to make the Langoliers go away before they eat him, he has his hands raised in front of his face. There is then a close-up of his mouth, and we can see to the left of shot, his hand grabbing onto the side of his head. (02:14:48)
Continuity mistake: When the Langoliers begin eating Toomey, Nick grabs hold of Laurel while he closes the door. In one shot, Laurel's hair is under Nick's arm leaving her left shoulder exposed. But in the next shot as the door starts to close, Laurel's left shoulder is suddenly covered by her hair. (02:14:54)
Continuity mistake: When Brian is about to fly back through the time rift, there is a mixture of blue and orange lighting coming from the rift that is cast on him and the wall behind him. When Nick rushes into the cockpit to tell him to turn back, in the close-up of Brian, the wall behind has blue light on it. When the shot cuts to have Nick and Brian in the frame, the wall now has orange light on it. (02:33:43)
Continuity mistake: When Nick sits back in the passenger seat after Brian turns away from the time rift, he is holding onto his left arm after banging it. When he sits down, his left hand is placed over his right arm. When the shot cuts, his left hand is suddenly raised upward slightly. (02:34:58)
Continuity mistake: When the surviving passengers are standing on the runway after arriving at the airport in LA, they are shown looking around and there is a shot where Brian turns his head to the left slightly. The shot then cuts to Laurel, and Brian is suddenly looking slightly to the right. (02:52:30)
Continuity mistake: When they take off from Bangor you see the landing gear retract, but in the next shot it's back down again.
Continuity mistake: The position of the plane on the runway and the distance it is from the terminal often changes, when Dinah looks at it through the glass, as Toomey runs around from the Langoliers, etc.
Answer: Yes, the passengers who were awake through the time rift were killed instantly, including Nick Hopewell on the return trip.
Danny Duignan
Hey you can't really assume anything with a film like this and with a storyline being so mysterious and suspenseful. I think it is left up to one's imagination where the passengers disappeared too. Personally I think or would like to believe they all survived but in another dimension probarly in the 4 or 5th dimension like with the Bermuda triangle which is very similar to the movie in relation to people disappearing without a trace.
Actually, since items like pacemakers were left behind it's safe to assume at least some of the missing passengers are dead.
I assume that since some passengers who disappeared left behind their pacemakers, they probably died.