Mistaken Identity Diverts Jetliner

An Air France jetliner en route from Paris to Boston was diverted to Maine on Thursday to check on a passenger who happened to have the same name and birth date as someone on a no-fly list, U.S. officials said.

The flight continued to Boston less than two hours later without the passenger and three of his family members, said Rebecca Hupp, director of Bangor International Airport.

When the plane landed in Maine, federal officials escorted a man, a woman, a child and a baby off. The four were detained by federal immigration officials, said Ann Davis, spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration in Boston.

The Airbus A-330, carrying 169 passengers, was diverted because the passenger had the same name as someone on the U.S. government’s no-fly list, Davis said. Air France and Federal Aviation Administration officials reported nothing else unusual about the flight.

Investigators later concluded it was a coincidence that the passenger’s name and birth date were identical to those of the person on the list, said Leah Yoon, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection. The family was released and allowed to continue their trip.

“You had a match of the name, save for slight deviation in spelling, and the exact date of birth,” said TSA spokesman Mark Hatfield. “In the end, we’re explaining a minor inconvenience rather than a major tragedy.”

U.S. law requires airlines to transmit to the Homeland Security Department the passenger lists for U.S.-bound flights within 15 minutes of takeoff. Officials then check those names against terrorist watch lists.

Bangor International is the last major U.S. airport for jets headed across the Atlantic and the first for incoming flights.

In September, a London-to-Washington flight carrying the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens was diverted to Bangor. Officials said a gap in the passenger-check system permitted Yusuf Islam -- the name the singer took after converting to Islam -- to board despite being on a no-fly list.