I'm guessing that five seasons in, the makers of 77 Sunset Strip were hard-put to find new approaches to episodes that would hold viewers' interest -- they'd done well over 150 episodes, a few of them very off-beat and even daring (i.e. "The Silent Caper"), and so they were open to anything that seemed different at that late date (the 6th season being the most "different" approach of all). "Flight 307" plays more like an Arthur Hailey book (specifically Hotel and Airport, which hadn't even been written yet), with lots of interlocking plot elements and only one character (Bill Williams' airport manager) whose role touches on most of those elements. Series principal character Stu Bailey plays a key (if slightly subdued) role in the progression and resolution of the plot, whose various strings get drawn together in the last 15 minutes, and the whole thing seems a bit rushed (there's enough exposition and character development here for a 90 minute movie), but it is entertaining and it is fascinating to see how the various plot strands do get woven into a coherent whole by the end.