Air France flight 378 from Paris to Detroit diverted to Montreal on Wednesday, with passengers reportedly being told that U.S. authorities refused to allow the aircraft to land in the U.S. because of a “virus” issue.
The Boeing 777-200 was reportedly barred from entering the U.S. after officials became aware of a virus onboard.
Today’s flight (5/20/26) is being rerouted mid flight. Announcement was US authorities are not allowing us to land in Detroit. FA mentioned something about a virus and they have masks on.
They turned off all WiFi 54 mins before arrival. Now telling us to remain seated until the agreement of the Canadian authorities.
A later announcement said there were no aircraft issues and that the diversion was “solely at the direction of US authorities.”
The passenger account says the crew referred to “something about a virus” and that flight attendants had masks on. The customer, seated in busienss class, reported that anyone who had their own mask put it on “most likely bc the crew suddenly all have them on.” Onboard service was suspended after the diversion announcement (the business class pre-arrival meal was not served).
It appears Air France plans to operate the plane from Montreal to Detroit, after addressing issues on the ground in Canada.
I haven’t been able to find any official statements on the status of the flight. However, this comes amidst new travel restrictions related to Bundibugyo, a virus that can cause Ebola. That’s not confirmed as the specific issue on this flight.
However, on Monday the Centers for Disease Control said that they, Homeland Security and other agencies had implemented “enhanced travel screening, entry restrictions, and public health measures” to prevent Ebola from entering the U.S. as a result of outbreaks in East and Central Africa.
- Entry restrictions on non-U.S. passport holders who had been in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, or South Sudan in the previous 21 days
- Coordination with airlines, international partners, and port of entry officials.
On Tuesday, CDC said they were coordinating testing, contact tracing, border screening, PPE, and disease response in the DRC and Uganda. (It’s not clear how keeping only non-U.S. passport holders who had been in these places out helps, except that authority to bar U.S. passports from entry is on weaker ground.)
We don’t know if there was an infected passenger or an exposed passenger on this flight, or a passenger who may have triggered travel-restriction criteria who had been allowed to board, or even just a passenger manifest issue where it wasn’t clear whether a passenger may have been allowed or not, exposed or not.
It’s also not entirely clear whether the U.S. refused “airspace” as I’ve seen claimed, or refused landing at a U.S. airport. The aircraft did fly over Maine enroute to Montreal.
(HT: Paddle Your Own Kanoo)
Looks like the flight continued on to Detroit, presumably after deplaning the sick passenger.
Probably shouldn’t have abandoned USAID, or left the WHO, or defunded the CDC, or vilified scientists and doctors, or… re-elected a horribly corrupt convict felon who tried over overthrow an election with an insurrection… but, I’m sure some ‘patriot’ (who is totally based in the US) is about to correct me, and diagnose me with a fake-illness… Enjoy the higher prices on fuel, food, housing, healthcare, and all the layoffs!