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Flights from France cancelled due to "mistaken identity" by US security agencies using PNR (1)

01 January 2004

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French officials say that Air France six flights to Los Angeles in the USA were cancelled before Xmas because the FBI made mistakes over identifying "suspicious" names on passenger lists - media coverage suggested that the flights were banned because of a "terrorist" threat.

A report in the Wall Street Journal said that one of the "suspects" turned out to be a five-year-old child because the name was similar to that of a wanted Tunisian., another a Welsh insurance sales person, another was an elderly Chinese woman, and another a prominent Egyptian scientist.

"A check was carried out in each case and in each case it turned out to be negative," a spokesman for the French Interior Minister told AFP, "the FBI worked with family names and some family names sound alike."

1. See BBC online coverage: BBC whose headline concerns fighter escorts
2. See Statewatch background: EU agrees on handing over passenger data to USA: Report and documents

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