Originally Posted by
Pendergast
The title of this thread specifies travels to the USA. An airline doesn't have to transport a US-citizen to another country, but when it comes to US-citizens being denied boarding a US-bound flight, any American can legally sue that airline for not allowing him/her return to his/her homeland, that is the USA wherein that US-citizen resides. Again, I'm not talking about criminals, including those who cause havoc or any other disturbance of the public order.
You can certainly sue -- but under the circumstanced described here that will be well after the aircraft leaves without you.
Also, the Code says "enter". It doesn't mention or specify at what/which point. Therefore, it could hypothetically mean entering the US by boarding a US-bound flight.
You do
not enter the US simply by boarding a US-bound flight. That doesn't even happen in US-preclearance facilities where passengers are still under the jurisdiction of the h🍁st country while in the preclearance area even after clearing US CBP.