Again, a decent guess, but the person in question does not have status with any loyalty program. Also, remember that he was flying XL Airways (not LX), with a non-refundable economy ticket.


The only other thing I can think of is that he has a disability and the last time he was in the US (at JFK) he was given a special escort, priority at security, etc. I don't know if they would have put a special note in the system in a situation like this... But he has flown since then (though it was within France and probably without a passport), and this flag did not come up.