I'm confused. How does a flight from Toronto to London cross US airspace? Perhaps a few seconds over Buffalo, or northern Maine, depending on the winds - but more likely not. And a Toronto - Glasgow routing would be the same.

So why are Air Transat, Air Canada and/or British Airways giving this information to the US government?

Perhaps Brussels should be asking Ottawa the same question?

According to US Homeland Security, somewhere around a million regular travelers are suspected of being active terrorists, and perhaps 10,000 of those are so dangerous that they aren't allowed on a plane.

They would have us believe the world is awash in flying terrorists, with only TSA to protect us. A sobering thought indeed.

If not, then TSA is a useless exercise in security theatre. There can't be 10,000+ really dangerous terrorists, much less a million, running about airports or they'd actually catch one or two.

Given TSA's abysmal "success" rate at detecting even the most obvious test decoys and inadvertent pistol packing passengers, I draw far more comfort from the alternative.

So, can I get a refund of my "security" fee on the basis of bad value?

The airlines don't need to give any info to the Americans to know if someone is on the list, they just need the list. So no privacy laws were broken.

Also, leaving from Halifax would have guaranteed not flying in American airspace, so the guy wouldn't have been trapped in "wintry" Canada. Toronto-Halifax is only a 27 hour bus trip ($157). If he doesn't like the bus, he could have taken ViaRail: 30 hours and $244.

The no fly list has been around for a few years. They used to tell you that your name came up due to a similarity, but that became worn and threadbare. One guy put his divorced wife's name on the list and I'm sure there are other absurdities associated with the list such as babies, long deceased people. I am elderly and retired and served in the armed services where I was privy to secret information and entered American military bases numerous times. I have no criminal record and I am caucasian and Christian. I held a responsible position in Aviation throughout my life. None of this prevented my name appearing on the list.

I followed Homeland's procedure to have my name removed and availed myself of the opportunity to express to Homeland my opinion of the list, its' denial of freedom to Americans, all other nationalities, and other absudities. It only took 2 years for Homeland to answer my application for removal of my name.

This list harks back to McCarthyism in the 1950s when Americans where denigrated, jailed, denied freedom, denied employment, for their ideology. This list is close to the tactics employed under Communist regimes during the Cold War. In my opinion the Patriot Act is an unpatriotic unconstitutional piece of legislation because it is justice delayed and freedom denied for some of those on the list.

I went through the Homeland procedure to satisfy my curiousity about the functioning of Homeland, not because the list had a significant impact on my life. As a life long believer and supporter of American policy I have in my latter years become wiser and the hypocrisy of America's policy has become more glaring. Unrest in the M.E. has made the Dept of State amusing to watch as it convulses about. There are probably millions of Americans that have been innocent but still subjected to injustice in civil society. It has been sad to watch the decline of America on so many levels, too many to mention.

What a joke! All I have to say about this is that if this gentleman was such a threat, why wasn't he arrested and questioned? McCarthyism at its finest!

You should have concluded he would have to spend 45 to 60 days in the Country that has 3 of the top 5 most livable cities. Running down Canada does nothing to improve Britain's dental care!

Wrong and how unpragmatic for The Economist. He simply he would have had to make AirTransat (who broke privacy laws) reroute his ticket with a stop-over in Montreal, thereby avoiding US airspace completely.

Yet another reason to completely boycott the US & not even think about ever going there.

His flight would not have crossed US airspace even from Toronto, but he was told in on the CHANCE the flight encountered problems and diverted to land on US airport he could be denied boarding. This was covered in CDN news sources.

His flight would not have crossed US airspace even from Toronto, but he was told on the CHANCE the flight encountered problems and diverted to land at US airport, he could be denied boarding in Canada. This was covered in CDN news sources.

I'm really missing the point, one person, out of hundreds of millions, is inconvenienced with flight re-routings and a subsequent effort to get his name off the the no-fly list becasue he was inadvertently, but perhaps not totally without reason (conversion to Islam and trips to Yemen), was placed on a no fly list that is used to protect civilians from a terrorist using aircraft as weapons of mass distruction?

Seems like the system is working reasonably well? Please stop blaming the U.S. Government for taking reasonable measures to protect its citizens. The terrorists are responsible the horrible conditions in their own countries and are the direct cause of the no-fly list. Start placing blame where it belongs.

Folks, every threat is an opportunity. Nominate your debt collector, bail bondsman, business rival, colleague who beat you to that lucrative overseas job. Yes!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you....

Americans vetting Canada-Europe passenger lists has been in effect since 2002, at the start of the no-fly list.

I was a beneficiary of their zealousness on a routine Toronto-Paris Air Canada flight back in 2002. Luckily a half hour grilling by the RCMP allowed me to still make my flight.