Found the following in both languages at UA's
French site:

Cher Client,

Comme vous le savez probablement déjà, pour des raisons de sécurité nationale, le gouvernement des Etats-Unis a informé le 2 août 2003 toutes les compagnies aériennes de la suspension des programmes de transit sans visa aux les Etats-Unis:
TWOV ( transit without Visa)
et ITI ( international to international)

Ces programmes permettaient aux passagers, sans visa américain, de transiter aux Etats-Unis d’un pays étranger à un autre avec une ou plusieurs escales. La suspension a pris effet le 2 août 2003 à 16h00 GMT.

Nous conseillons aux personnes concernées par ce changement de faire les démarches nécessaires pour obtenir un visa auprès des consulats des Etats-Unis le plus tôt possible.

En outre, le gouvernement des Etats-Unis a donné les informations suivantes:

Exceptions acceptées à cette suspension

Le gouvernement des Etats-Unis permet aux passagers concernés de continuer leur voyage comme prévu aux conditions suivantes:

• Les passagers effectuant leur voyage de retour peuvent transiter aux Etats-Unis sans visa jusqu’à 16h00 GMT le 9 août 2003

Informations supplémentaires:

Le gouvernement des Etats-Unis a publié des communiqués de presse et des avis publics que vous pouvez consulter sur les sites Internet www.travel.state.gov ou www.dhs.gov.

Le gouvernement des Etas-Unis a informé ses bureaux consulaires à l’étranger de traiter les demandes de visa des personnes concernées avec priorité, mêmes celles des non-résidents dans le pays.

United Airlines s’occupe des dossiers de réservations des passagers concernés par ces mesures de sécurité au cas par cas. Nos passagers ayant acheté leur billet avant ou le 3 août 2003 sont priés de contacter notre service Réservations au n° Azur 0810 72 72 72.





Dear Customer:

As you may be aware, on Saturday August 2nd, the United States Government notified all airlines of the suspension of its US Transit Without Visa (TWOV) and International to International (ITI) programs due to national security concerns.

These programs allowed customers to transit though the United States without a nonimmigrant visa while enroute from one foreign country to a second foreign country with one or more stops in the United States. The suspension of this program took effect on August 2, 2003 at 11:00am – Eastern Time – USA (4:00pm GMT).

We encourage all affected customers to obtain a U.S. Visa for their travel.

The following is additional information for reference given by the United States Government:

Exceptions to the Suspension of These Programs

The United Stated Government has established some limited provisions that allow certain affected passengers to continue travel as planned:

• Passengers that were on the first leg of their journey could TWOV the US until 00:01 AM EDT (5:01AM GMT) Tuesday August 5, provided their ticket had been issued on or before July 24, 2003
• Passengers on the return leg of their round trip ticket can TWOV the US until 11:00AM EDT (4:00PM GMT) Saturday August 9, 2003

Additional Information:

The United States Government has released media and public communication that can be found at www.travel.state.gov or www.dhs.gov

The United States Government has communicated to the various consular offices overseas, that passengers affected should be processed for a US visa on an expedited basis, including non-residents of that country.

United Airlines will be handling passengers affected by this measure on a case-by-case basis. If a customer has purchased a ticket on or before August 3, 2003, please contact United Airlines Reservations to adjust your travel needs.

Thanks for this interesting heads up. I do think it's a little more appropriate for Travel Safety/Security forum as it isn't really about miles and points. Please continue to discuss this topic there.

Regards,
Gary
aka gleff
MilesBuzz and Delta moderator