This curious story from El País in Spain about the diversion of an Air France Paris-Mexico City flight on April 18 to keep one of its passengers from entering U.S. airspace.
http://www.elpais.com/...
Translation below.
Flying Over the United States Prohibited
Washington diverts an Air France flight carrying a Colombian leftist
Ignacio Cembrero - Madrid - 5/3/2009
Five hours before Air France Flight 438 from Paris to Mexico City reached its destination on April 18, the voice of the pilot woke up the sleeping passengers. He announced that U.S. authorities were not authorizing the overflight of U.S. territory because there was a passenger onboard who, for security reasons, was not welcome in their airspace. In low voices the passengers started to wonder who might be the "terrorist" on board and who looked Muslim.
The pilot returned to the loudspeaker to explain that the aircraft was distancing itself from the Florida coast, to avoid penetrating U.S. airspace, and heading to Martinique, a French island in the Carribbean. There it would refuel before continuing on to Mexico. Shortly after taking off from Martinique, the co-pilot entered the cabin, headed toward the rear of the plane and approached one of the passengers. "Are you Mr. Calvo Ospina?" he asked. "Yes," replied the passenger. He was then invited to accompany the co-pilot to the rear of the plane.
The co-pilot informed Hernando Calvo Ospina that he was the passenger responsible for the detour. The 48-year old Colombian writer and journalist was "shocked," he related in a telephone call from Managua. Now residing in Paris, he had travelled years ago to the U.S. without any problem. "Do you believe I'm a terrorist?" he asked the co-pilot. The co-pilot responded that he did not and that was why he was informing him. He added that it was the first time that something like this had happened on a flight.
Are you Catholic?
The plane landed in Mexico City six hours late and, as Calvo anticipated, the police were waiting to question him. They had a dozen-page document about him to help with their investigation. "Are you Catholic?" was a recurring question to determine if he was Muslim. "They were very pleasant," recalls Calvo. One of them explained to him that he was being questioned on behalf of U.S. authorities. "After 9/11 the Americans increased our cooperation work," the agent said. The following morning the journalist embarked heading to Managua with no problem.
Calvo said that he is not aware of the reason for the U.S. refusal [to let him enter U.S. airspace] although he suspects that it is related to his virulent criticism of U.S. policy in Latin America, especially Colombia, and his interviews of Colombian leaders of FARC, which is considered to be a terrorist organization.
Other stories:
http://progreso-weekly.com/...
http://www.gadling.com/...