So imagine you're flying Amsterdam to Mexico City
So there you are, approximately 5 hours or so into your flight, when the aircraft turns around and heads back to Amsterdam. You'd be pretty annoyed, right? I think you just might be even MORE annoyed when you find out that the reason is because two people on the US "no fly" list are on your flight, and so the US won't allow the aircraft to enter US airspace.
At this point, you may ask yourself, how did they work this? Or perhaps more likely, how did they NOT work this? Was it the airline being slow at transmitting the passenger information? (in this case, KLM) Or, was it our illustrious Department of Homeland Security waiting until the flight reached the border of US airspace before it was decided to turn the aircraft away?
Why is it so difficult for airlines and TSA to get their shit together to prevent this type of thing in future? The flight in question went back to Amsterdam, dumped the offending passengers off, (presumably refueled and re-crewed) then headed back to Mexico City, cleared into US airspace this time. Why, in the name of the Goddess, did they not say something like, "oh looky here, there are some naughty passengers on this list. Let's not let them board so that we can fly through US airspace?" Why did the whole planeload of people have to add a minimum of 10 hours to their already long and annoying journey?
Why? Because the desires of the passengers are likely the LAST thing anyone cares about these days. Passengers are treated as a necessary evil, barely tolerated and seen as only good for generating revenue. After all, the IMPORTANT people are flying around on government aircraft or private jets. Who cares about the poor schmuck who has to fly commercial? Why try to rush things so that perhaps the naughty passengers are found before the aircraft leaves the ground, or perhaps an hour into the flight rather than 5? I mean REALLY now! Such a bother to try to get people to do their jobs. *sigh*