Free Republic

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - A KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Mexico City was blocked mid-flight by U.S. authorities for having two undesirable people on board, the airline said Sunday. KLM spokesman Bart Koster said the flight was approaching the U.S. border from Canada when the pilots was told they would not be allowed to enter U.S. airspace because of the two passengers who were considered a risk, apparently due to terrorism fears. Their names were not released. The flight turned around and went back to Amsterdam. A new flight traveled as normal on Saturday, without the two...

Fifteen minutes after KLM Flight 685 took off from Amsterdam for Mexico City on April 8, Mexican authorities forwarded the names of all the passengers to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The reason: the flight was scheduled to pass through U.S. airspace. by the time the Boeing 747 had finished its three-hour crossing of the Atlantic, Homeland Security screeners were on high alert. The names of two Saudi passengers aboard the KLM flight had begun producing "hits" on the screening center's lists of 70,000 suspect foreigners. The two Saudis, the database reported, were brothers and pilots who had attended...