Flash sideways isn't really sideways after all by EddieNYNY

Out of boredom, I recently took a look at the LOST timeline including the events taking place in the sideways alternate world. I realized that some things do not chronologically add up which leads me to believe that this sideways world is NOT a parallel timeline that split after the Incident... but rather a looped timeline that occurs after the end of current events (up until the season finale).

In the sideways world, our Losties are starting to have 'visions' of events taking place in the current timeline. My theory is entirely based on the assumption that the alternate Oceanic flight successfully landed in LA on September, 22nd 2004. Now let's play with some dates:

DESMOND:
Sept 22, 2004 - ALT Desmond and Charlie crash their car into the ocean. Desmond has a vision of Charlie dying. We also infer that Desmond knows about all of the other Losties which begins his quest to help everyone remember.
Nov 5, 2004 - Swan hatch opened by Locke. Desmond introduced to the Oceanic survivors.
Dec 21, 2004 - Charlie dies.

HUGO:
Sept 22-29, 2004 - Sometime during this week, ALT Hurley meets Libby in a restaurant. They go on a date on a beach and kiss... which causes Hurley to have a vision.
Nov 11, 2004 - Hurley meets Libby

SUN:
Sept 22-29, 2004 - Sometime during this week, ALT Sun gets shot and is taken to a hospital. She recognizes Locke and is clearly terrified... assuming she is really having a vision of Flocke.
Dec, 2007 - Ben kills Locke. Ajira crashes thus returning Locke's body to the island. MIB assumes Locke's dead body.

As we have seen thus far, the ALT Losties are having visions of events (or feelings) that have yet to occur in the original timeline. I think it's a bit of a stretch for them to be seeing into the future of a different timeline. A more plausible theory is that this ALT timeline occurs chronologically after the original timeline.

In other words, I wouldn't be surprised if this series ends with the sideways timeline continuing... and all of our favorite Losties still alive living their ALT lives.

One wrench in this theory involves the 'Incident' which we have been led to believe caused the ALT timeline to split. This is certainly contrary to my theory that it really is a loop and not a split.

My best answer is that this may in fact be a red herring, and that the incident has nothing to do with the sideways timeline after all. If the sideways timeline split after the incident, then logically characters like Ben, Miles, Charlotte, Daniel, Ethan would still have been born on the island in their ALT lives (aka pre-incident). We haven't seen this yet.

I supposed we'll find out in the coming weeks, but if we soon discover that ALT Ben remembers getting shot as a kid on an island by Sayid, then we can throw this theory out the window. ;)