What do you think happened to the other starliners? I think they might have returned once one starliner found plant life, they all return. Any ideas?
Well, considering they have EVE probes, they may have settled on other planets, perhaps? I mean EVEs can’t possibly be restricted to only Earth.
I think the other starliners are still in space. but i think they would have different robots, considering that the whole world evacuated and the Chinese and Japanese would have different robots because they are good at the field of technology.
Except that the B&L president was also president of Earth if I remember correctly, so all starliners would have the same equipment.
I’d guess they were either lost or are on their way to Earth. There’s no telling what sort of communication is available then so perhaps it may take a day or week for all clear message to reach the other ships. Or maybe they will come only after their own EVE units find plant life. Or more likely (I just thought of this though it’s pretty obvious now) all their auto pilots are on full auto! So unless they have a captain whith enough gusto to throw the switch, they’ll be staying in space until someone comes to get them.
I’ve always wondered whether there was any communication between the different starliners. I sort of doubt it, because if this were the case, I’m sure the captain would’ve contacted them at some point in the film to tell them that they can return to the Earth too.
Of course, the main problem with that is what Fett101 said- every starliner has its own AUTO, so the other AUTOs would have to be switched off for the other starliners to be able to return to Earth.
I think there’s a possibility that after the film, there were rescue missions of some sort, where some of those currently on Earth might take a spaceship and travel to the other starliners to tell them that life on Earth is now sustainable, but that’s dependent on actually knowing the location of the other starliners.
I’m writing a fanfic about this. I’ll tell you what i think happened:
The other StarLiners were destroyed by the autopilots.
I think lizardgirl got it almost spot on, the only thing I disagree on is the rescue mission, although I know that’s just fan speculation. I know for a fact that the other starliners are lost in space, since Andrew Stanton said, and whether or not the inhabitants are still alive is up to speculation. It would be funny if there were no people left on the other liners, but the ships were still fully operational, robots and all!!
Fett101- I don’t think all of the starliners had the same equipment, remember the Axiom was top of the line, and the most luxurious.
Someone needs to ask Andrew Stanton about the other starliners.
First off, First post, hello, hello. 
Now, as to other starliners, my spec is that to the best of my knowledge, it’s been stated that there were a total of 70 EVE units made (feel free to correct me on this) and that the Axiom had 5 of them, so I assume the other Axiom-class starliners did as well. 70/5=14 starliners. This doesn’t count whatever other starships were built by BnL before that.
As to their fate… Well, to start, I think that part of the reason AUTO was acting with such desperation to keep the plant from being deposited into the Holo-Detector was that once that happened, the ship’s computer would completely take over (which it did) and AUTO (or anyone else) would be completely locked out, helpless to keep the ship from hyperjumping to Earth.
I also think that, either before or after hyperjumping, the Axiom’s computer would send a “plant verification” signal to the other Axiom-class ships which would cause their computers to do the same thing: Take over ship operations, locking out their respective AUTOs, and hyperjumping back to Earth.
Given that, perhaps AUTO wasn’t only concerned about himself, but the others of his ilk.
That makes a lot of sense. I agree with you. And welcome to Pixar Planet! I hope you like it here.
I’ve wondered about something in the credits. In one part there are four escape pod vehicles that people come out of carrying food. I’m not sure if those are escape pods from the Axiom or perhaps those signal the return of some of the other ships.
Rasputin42x69- Well, that would explain AUTO’s desperation even more so. And I never realised that there were 70 EVE units! Where did you find this out from? Good deduction, so there were 14 starliners.
I think it’s pretty feasible that the starliners were still in contact with each other, unless AUTO had cut off the contact himself.
And welcome to the forums! 
It does make sense that the computer would take over. Auto didn’t have control over the Axiom’s computer, he only operated the functions on the ship. But the Axiom’s computer gave announcements, activated the hyperjump, and has knowledge of Earth. It also knows about the “Directive A113” message. So, since it activated a hyperjump, it could activiate the other starliners’ too. It was called “Operation Recolonize” so it had to be everyone.
To be perfectly honest, I can’t remember exactly where I read that number, it was in some interview or article somewhere on the web, so it’s still spec on my part. I do know that the official production notes state that EVE is one of a fleet of her kind, and many naval fleets contain a huge number of various ships, so saying 70 might be understating things, especially considering how big Earth is.
It’s one of those questions that only Andrew Stanton can answer with authority, pretty much. 
It’s quite possible that some of the other starliners may’ve colonized other planets. As I recall, the holographic advertisement WALL•E triggered on Earth made a point of highlighting the Axiom as the jewel of the BNL fleet, with a fully-automated crew to serve the human passengers 24/7. Clearly the Axiom was originally populated by the affluent.
Without the complete automation and perpetual service of the Axiom, It’s possible that humans didn’t degenerate to the same extent on some of the other, less luxuious vessels. The crew and passengers on some of these other ships may’ve decided to go off on their own and colonize other worlds once it was clear that they were on far more than a 5-year cruise.
I’ll have to agree with AtomicGreymon. But i can’t remember anything talking about the other starliners or even the rest of the humans!
That’s a cool idea, AtomicGreymon. I hadn’t thought about the other starliners colonizing other planets. They would have to find a life-sustaining planet though, and I guess that would be pretty difficult. But it seems as though the starliners were situated a long way away from Earth, so it’s definitely feasible. I wonder why the starliners were placed so far away from Earth? Perhaps to help them forget about Earth’s problems?
Well, I do know on the Buy n Large website in one of their Earth Transport business divisions they have “Star Liner Vacations” and “Intergalaxies”, so most of those starliners were already made. So, maybe they were showing people the universe. They all were probably equipped with a hyperjump.
So was the BnL fleet mainly American? Because my friend and I were wondering what all the other countries were doing. We were assuming that everyone on the Axiom, at least, was American.
Axiom- So they were probably used before the whole abandoning the Earth thing and then their purpose was changed when needed? Interesting.
lennonluvr9- That’s something I’ve been thinking about, too. The thing is, BnL was a global corporation, so that would lead me to think that they used pretty much the same starliners (but perhaps with some modifications) for people all over the world. BnL seems to be an American company, but perhaps there were different versions of the same company in other countries, because I remember people saying how BnL literally took over the world.