As a "Eutizen", a term which I object to, by the way, I agree with you that refusing to visit or transit in the US because of politics is stupid and narrow-minded.

However, I think refusing to transit in the US because doing so is a gigantic pain in the @ss is a legitimate complaint, and you can count me among those who will pay good money to avoid having to transit in the US. I welcome alternatives like AeroMexico's TIJ-NRT or Air New Zealand's new YVR-AKL flights. A lot of other posters have cited LHR - I agree that this airport is a nightmare, and use it only when my destination is London. I would not dream of connecting there unless I had no choice. I extend the same argument to the US - though with things being what they are, if I have a choice between transiting in the US on the way to my destination and not going, I would choose not to go.

The reason for this has nothing to do with politics, but rather with policies, namely the policies of US Customs and Border Patrol and of the TSA. Your view may differ on this, but if I have the choice between spending my vacation euros in a country that fingerprints and mugshots me like a common criminal simply because I had the temerity to show up at one of its airports, where I must leave my luggage unlocked for "security" reasons making it easy for all-and-sundry to pilfer from it, being yelled at like a Marines recruit on the first day of boot camp by TSAers too stupid to spell their own name while dawdling their way through screening passengers, power-tripping all the way or spending them in a country that has relatively easy entry procedures, allows me to keep my luggage locked and has security screeners who are polite and courteous, and best of all, efficient - well, you'll have to forgive me for choosing the second option.

Let's not forget that there is also a certain element of risk in trying to enter the US. US immigration inspectors can turn you away for any reason, and you have no recourse. There are regular reports of people (usually of Middle Eastern origin) who happen to share a name with known persons of interest, being detained for days and interrogated before being deported, even after their innocence has been proven. And then there are cases like that of Maher Arar. I may not have much to fear because I am a law-abiding citizen, but rather than put myself at the mercy of an out-of-control bureaucracy, I again choose to go elsewhere.

I used to live in the US and still have very good friends there, and there are a number of places in the US that I would love to see or see again, but at the moment I am simply not willing to put up with the hassle and indignity of the current entry process to the US.

If you want to want to see this as a protest against US politics, then fine, see it as such. Me, I see it as voting with my pocketbook. When conditions in a certain place are such that visiting there becomes a chore rather than a pleasure, it's time to go elsewhere in the hopes that the absence of tourists (and their money) will bring about a change.