Originally Posted by armada
The flight was en route to Mexico when they were notified.
NORAD then provided both air and ground monitoring of the flight, Mike Kucharek, NORAD chief of media relations, told the Toronto Star last night. That means either F-15s or F-16s accompanied the flight while over U.S. airspace.
Since the crew was not permitted to work the extra hours required to fly a circuitous route back to Canada that didn't fly over the U.S., Kahil was taken into custody, Air Transat spokesperson Sophie Lussier said yesterday.
What's not clear is why a passenger list was given by the airline to American authorities, since U.S. legislation enacted after 9/11 requires airlines to provide passenger lists only if a flight is destined for the U.S.
The U.S. "no-fly list" has been frequently criticized for cases of mistaken identity. Innocent passengers have been snared because of similarities to names on the list or because names have been misspelled. Among those who have been barred in the United States are veteran Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy, John Lewis, a Democratic congressman from Georgia, and the son of Canadian Senator Colin Kenny, who has chaired the Canadian Senate's security committee.
[/url]
That is the crux of the matter, apart from the guy losing his vacation, how and why was the U.S. notified? I know that the U.S. asked for details of passengers on U.S. overflights and the request was refused by the Canadian government. So could the U.S. be secretly tapping airline computers for passenger lists? We know they have been secretly tapping phone calls and e-mails in the U.S. so I wouldn't put anything like this past them.