[toyg]

> in case of Snowden they would only have prevented him from getting to South America.

And you know this how, were you working for the Austrian government at the time, and were you a member of the team who searched the plane?

Chances are that they would have at minimum detained him and allowed the US to start extradition proceedings. Whether they would have eventually extradited him, is not certain; but they would not have searched the plane (and sent the Austrian President to talk directly with Morales) if they were not minded to detain him.

[V-2]

You seem to have started writing your reply before (or instead of) reading my commment in full.

My point was that if Snowden actually was there, they wouldn't land in Austria to begin with. Unlike the RyanAir flight, the plane wasn't forcefully grounded (under a false pretense). It just wasn't let through any further, but returning was still an option.

[toyg]

Because of the constraints on fuel, there was no realistic alternative to going down. And again, once that happened, the fact the Austrian government sent a search party says it all, no matter how hard you want to spin it.

[V-2]

"Because of the constraints on fuel, there was no realistic alternative to going down"

Source? Wasn't it a Transatlantic flight?

"And again, once that happened, the fact the Austrian government sent a search party says it all, no matter how hard you want to spin it"

This doesn't contradict nor invalidate my point at all.

[toyg]

Look around in the various threads, this has been discussed and also in the past. The plane had barely enough range to make it back home with one refuelling stop on the way. NATO countries were closing airspace while it was in the air, even going back to Russia would have been a challenge having to fly back over the likes of Hungary - which by then could well have been closed too.