Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. Space debris near orbiting speeds doesn't fall straight down, it's simple physics. If anything planes much further downrange (thousands of km) should be diverted, not immediately under the re-entry point.
The planes diverting were downrange. Also, I doubt they had much information to go off, and were essentially flying blind about where the debris were unless they had a direct line to NORAD. Do you have a better explanation why they are doing donuts over the pacific at the time of reentry, then were diverted? https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/ABX3133 https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/N121BZ/history/20250..…
Other planes were also caught up in the chaos but SJU was at capacity apparently