BA flight to Mexico refused overfly by USA

[Matt_L]

A British Airways Boeing 747-400, registration G-CIVK performing flight BA-243 from London Heathrow,EN (UK) to Mexico City (Mexico) with 318 passengers, was about 2 hours into the flight overhead the Atlantic, when US Authorities refused permission to overfly US territory to the flight due to a "data discrepancy" involving a male US citizen (55). The airplane returned to London Heathrow, where the aircraft landed safely on runway 09L 4.5 hours after departure. The man was escorted off the airplane.

The airplane departed again after 3 hours on the ground and reached Mexico City with a delay of 7.5 hours.

Scotland Yard said, that the man and his luggage were searched under the terrorism act, but was not arrested.

The flight path of BA-243 would have taken the aircraft across Canada and USA.

http://avherald.com/h?article=42753806&opt=0

The thing that gets me here is how things like this STILL are happening inflight, especially after 25th December attempted bombing etc- You would think action had been taken to ensure all passengers were thoroughly profiled/screened whatever the US is currently doing in response to last years attempt but to discover it in flight seems pretty backward.

[Montague S]

what exactly happened inflight, Matt? nothing from what I can gather except a little paranoia from our leaders of the free world...the guy wasn't arrested, and he just so happened to be a US citizen.

[Paul McFarlane]

Originally Posted by Montague S

...he just so happened to be a US citizen.

America: The land of the free!

[Laurent Sanhard]

hope BA send their fuel bill to the US government, surely they could have sorted this out before take-off,