WASHINGTON, May 17 (Xinhuanet) -- An Alitalia flight from Milan to Boston has been diverted to Bangor, Maine, because the name of a passenger on the flight matched a name on the U.S. no-fly list, U.S. officials said on Tuesday.

    A spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration said Alitalia flight 618 was diverted.

    Airlines are supposed to check passengers against a no-fly list before they allow them to board the airplane. Once the flight is en route, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security also checks the manifest against the no-fly list.

    Most of the diversions requested by the United States have occurred because a passenger's name was found to match one on the list after the flight took off.

    Last Thursday an Air France flight was diverted in a similar situation. Enditem