The ground handling excuse is bogus. If a plane diverts, for any reason, operations gets onto the airport and negotiates this. It sounds like the airline didn't even discuss the situation with the Airport Manager appropriately. The truth is, it is more hassle for the airline to let passengers off because then when they are ready to depart, the passengers have to be rounded back up and "handled" to get back onto the aircraft. This operational inconvenience drives the decision making of the airline, regardless of the discomfort of their passengers. The making up of lies, such as blaming the TSA is routine for airline employees. Make something up which is remotely plausible and hope the stupid passengers won't find out until you are long gone.
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