Does anyone reading this thread actually know someone who was actually prevented from getting on any flight?

It's a government secret! :D Come to think of it, George Jr. did have his flight priviledges revoked for not showing up for his physical for the National Guard.

I skimmed back a bit - what flights are you referring to?

By prevented, do you mean stopped from boarding but ultimately allowed to fly or barred from flying ever?

Well Russ has set the bar pretty high, as "never be able to get on a commercial flight again", but let's take any particular restriction of over 24 hours, for the purposes of seeing what turns up.

How about Cat Stevens? Ted Kennedy? Anyone named David Nelson? And those are just a few of the ones that were amusing enough to make the news.

If you meant know personally, the people I know don't fly much...

Actually, the "no-fly" list is NOT a matter of public record. For a sampling of citizens' complaints about being placed on this list, look here: http://www.epic.org/foia_docs/airtravel/congress1.pdf

:eyebrow:

hahaha kennedy...

One person on Baen's Bar (another board not quite entirely unlike this one) says that he's had exactly that -- arrest and questioning by three-letter agencies and placement on the no-fly list -- happen to him, as a result of posting a rant on that board.

Do you think the three-letter agencies would have a similar story about why they placed him? (Might there be more to it?)

Ahh. Haven't reached the 24 hour mark yet, but I do know a couple of people who were detained, one for about 6 hours and the other for around 8, before being released to 'go about their business'.

Here's a discussion of various airline-watchlist-related stories.No outright bannings mentioned, as of yet.

The cite I gave above contains the documentation of an innocent individual who is consistently being detained and delayed each time he attempts to fly somewhere. Everything is reproduced on Federal Agency letter heads. His example is just one of many. :eyebrow:

If the TLAs have a story, they aren't telling it. Which is one of the problems with the no-fly list... they don't HAVE to justify themselves. There's no review and no oversight. Blatant violation of the constitution (punishment without trial), but one which will no doubt be upheld by SCOTUS using the talisman of "public safety".

I'm just trying to see how big a problem it is, at this time.