A colleague of mine has a similar problem. He has a very common american sounding name -- something as common as Mark Smith (not his real name). He was on the "do not fly" list and went thru this harrassment for months. Finally got the TSA to remove it. Or at least he thought so. Then he showed up at SFO for a trans-pacific flight on Singapore air and they called the SF Police Department who slowly searched thru every nick and cranny in his bags. If he hadn't arrived early, he would have missed his plane. He has no clue whether he is back on the list or whether Singapore Air just had an old copy.

What a nightmare!!

Speaking of nightmares. Another colleague -- this one a french citizen was leaving Beijing. His passport had recently expired and he had a brand new one. The Chinese officials looked at the "virgin" passport and assumed it was fake. They even told him (in very poor english) that he didn't look french. He tried speaking French, but they had no clue what language it was. Eventually, some supervisor let him through and he was allowed on the plane, but it wasn't a pleasant experience. Something to remember when you renew passports.