Posted on 05/12/2005 3:13:44 PM PDT by LurkedLongEnough
PARIS (AP) - An Air France flight from Paris to Boston was being diverted to Maine on Thursday because U.S. authorities wanted to check a passenger, officials said.
Flight 332 was diverted because a passenger had the same name as someone on the U.S. government's no-fly list, said Ann Davis, spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration in Boston.
The plane was carrying 169 passengers, according to Air France.
Air France and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration were in contact with the flight, ``and there are no reports of unusual activity on board,'' Davis said.
Flight 332 had been scheduled to land in Boston at 3:30 p.m. EDT, said Phil Orlandella, a spokesman for Logan International Airport in Boston.
Instead, it was expected to land at Bangor International Airport in Maine between 2:30 and 2:45 p.m., Davis said. Federal agencies including the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Transportation Security Administration were to meet the flight.
Bangor International Airport is a common stopping off point for trans-Atlantic flights. It is the last major U.S. airport for jets headed across the Atlantic and the first for incoming flights.
Last September, a London-to-Washington flight carrying the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens was diverted to Bangor. Security officials later said a gap in the airline passenger-check system permitted Yusuf Islam - the name the singer took after converting to Islam - to board the flight to the United States despite being on a no-fly list for suspected ties to terrorists. Islam has strongly denied the claim.
Anyone with the word "Islam" in their name should fly "Delta"....
Don't Even Let Them Aboard!
....British Islamic 'Port' Security their model....????
/sarcasm
That is very clever! I like it.
'...should fly "Delta"'
I don't get.
I'm sure the people of Maine are thrilled.
Only in socialist France could you operate an aircraft the size of an A300 Airbus with a mere 169 passengers on board. Likely it will return with even fewer since Americans in Paris are seldom seen anymore.
Ahh. Thanks.
I'll bet the name wasn't either Daniel Francis Patrick O'Leary, Mario Vincenzo D'Amato or Stanislaus Kowalsky.
LOL----I didn't get it either but I usually figure I'm just not "with it" so never ask.
I understand that Bangor is the first US airport when coming from Europe but since this plane was heading for Boston,why didn't they just go to Boston?
It would be much more convenient for all the folks on board who were not involved in the incident.
Ridiculous if you ask me!
Not as many skyscrapers in Maine.
I don't think we will have the troop greeters turn out for this one.
Go figure... there's more than one "Edward Kennedy" out there?
Most of the time it pays to ask. Then again, my insatiable curiosity have killed me many times.
[If you get my drift. :)]
Bump.
When flying from Europe, using the Great Circle Route, the first American airport you actually fly over is Bangor International.
They have full Customs services there, and are able to handle almost any plane because of the big runway they have. It's even a emergency Space Shuttle landing strip, should that be needed.
Another thing that helps...the Maine Air National Guard ("Mainiacs") is based at BIA.
Thanks!
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