BA said that they decided to return the plane back to Heathrow. And I strongly believe you hit it on the head. They want the authorities in the UK to deal with it.

my friends two year old daughter was on NO FLY list. It took 6 months and political push right up to Atty. Gen to take the girl off. Everytime she boarded the flight with parents they were stoped and questioned:-)

How long before lots of people are on these lists just because the US gov't doesn't "like" them? How long before US citizens are on the list because they disagree with the administration? Its a slippery slope.

The authorities in the U.S. certainly wanted to apprehand the suspected passenger before the flight reached its final destination. However, if was BA, not U.S. authorities, who decided to turn the plane around and head back to LHR after three hours of flying, according to a U.S. official quoted by Reuters:

Just a thought here: Didn't DHS ask foreign carriers for a longer window before a plane departs a gate on a US-bound flight, so they would have time to check the pax list after everyone was boarded? And didn't the carriers (rightly) push back and say that wouldn't be practical?

Would it be too Machiavellian to think that both DHS and BA actions here were to make a point in that, um, conversation?

I can only imagine how I would feel if I was one of the hapless pawns on the flight in such a game. Especially if I was flying with small children...

You're right. Eventually, the number of people on the "inconvenienced" list will far exceed anyone's expectations that no one will want to fly, prompting the airlines to go into economic distress.

Worse, the airlines will "forget" about the list because the fine for "forgetting" may be significantly less than the revenue the airline generates from the flight. It's possible to program a computer to "check" the list every 3rd flight. Who's going to find out about that "bug"?

And eventually (though not anytime soon), enough politicians who "magically" end up on the "inconvenienced" list, or if enough of their constituents publically voice their inconvenience, will say screw the TSA, we're dismantling them.

This is absolutely absurd. Put the 100 most wanted people on the list along with their picture. Let everyone else fly. When have they caught a "real" terrorist using the list? None, unless you count Cat Stevens and Ted Kennedy.

How many times has Thousand Standing Around caught weapons at the checkpoint? Too many damn times to count.

What should be used more often? Checkpoints or an ever inaccurate and growing list?

One other thing Thousand Standing Around and the Gestapo has not considered. In many third world countries, it's possible to pay off someone for a "new" birth certificate, and/or a "new" passport with a different name. What list will stop that?

The day I end up on that list, I'm personally going to put many small laminated pictures of goatse and tubgirl inside over my luggage. They want something to look at, they're welcome to study it in close detail. But if they steal any of them, I'm taking them to court.

Senator Ted Kennedy was on that list. He has lots to say about Shrub. Then again, he has lots to say about everything, but that doesn't really matter, does it?

I'm willing to bet you Kerry and Edwards will end up on that list sometime soon... for running against Shrub.

The plane should not have been diverted to Bangor either!!!

Fly the flight, land the plane at the correct destination, let INS sort out any issues if need be.

Screw* the No Fly list.

* Stronger verb should be substituted here.

Perhaps BA also suspected they would lose the plane for a few days while it was being checked out. Has BA done something to upset the TSA lately? They certainly seem to be getting more than their share of problems.

From AP:

I doubt it and I bl**dy well hope they didn't ask.
When did the DOHs get sovereignty over the mid-Atlantic (or maybe Canada or wherever the flight was @ 3-hours from LHR) ?

So this person posed no threat to the safety of the aircraft, but was so dangerous for the US of A that they had to inconvenience some 300 other passengers.

I am guessing that majority of the passengers on the plane decided to head back to U.K.

He probably had some unpatriotic materiel in his luggage, like an "authentic" reproduction of the Constitution that he picked up while on a trip to Shanghai several months back. Some CIA flunky saw him buy it, took a quick snapshot of the transaction, and promptly had him added to the list.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe...ack/index.html

In the United States, Transportation Security Administration officials said federal authorities asked British Airways to divert the plane to Bangor, Maine, after the positive match was discovered. British Airways opted instead to return to Heathrow, officials said.

Just so you all know it was BA's decision to turn back and they were not ordered to.