A Stitch in Haste

I still don't get it:

U.S. authorities diverted an Air France airliner to Bangor, Maine on Thursday and detained a passenger whose name matched one on the U.S. no-fly list, as well as three members of his family, officials said.

Air France Flight 332 from Paris to Boston made the unscheduled stop at the United States' request when authorities found a "possible match" in the passenger manifest, the Transportation Security Administration said.
...
TSA spokeswoman Yolanda Clark said the match of the names was detected while the plane was in the air. "It appears AirFrance missed the fact that a passenger was found to be a match on the no-fly list," she said.

As I blogged previously: I'm sorry, but I just don't see how this is possible. Can't these checks be made before the dang plane takes off?

And does all the economic harm caused the people on this plane -- the lost time, perhaps missed connections, etc. -- count for nothing?

It's utterly astounding how screwed up airline passenger screening still is. And it makes a statistician wonder: if they're making these Type I errors (i.e., false positives), might they also be prone to the far more serious Type II errors (i.e., false negatives)?

Sit back, relax and enjoy -- or not.