Q&A: What is TSA’s Secure Flight and how does it affect you?
Talk about TMI. Now airlines are starting to ask your age and gender when you book a ticket. So expect to provide that, along with your first, last and middle name (if you have one) as it appears on your driver’s license or other government-issued ID.
It’s all part of the new Secure Flight program, an attempt by the Transportation Security Administration to reduce mistakes and smooth out the process of checking names against its watch list, popularly known as the “no-fly” list, of people suspected of posing a risk to aviation security.
The program is being phased in, airline by airline. Today, Sept. 15, American Airlines began asking for the personal information, and other carriers are expected to follow soon.
What happens if the name on your ticket doesn’t match the one on your driver’s license? Or if you make a mistake in giving your age? For answers to those and other questions, I turned to TSA spokeswoman Sterling Payne and American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner. Here are their answers, along with information from TSA’s website:
Question: How does Secure Flight work?
Answer: Under the old program — still in place for many carriers — the TSA provided the watch list to airlines, leaving each one to interpret it and check the IDs of its customers against the list. If your name appeared to be on the watch list, you might be subjected to added screening or even barred from boarding.
Under Secure Flight, the process is reversed: Airlines first collect the names, date of birth and gender of customers when they buy tickets. Then the TSA checks the names against its watch list, Payne said. The idea is to do the vetting earlier and standardize the process.
Q: What’s in it for me?
A: The TSA says Secure Flight will make it less likely that you’ll be misidentified as a security risk or face last-minute surprises and delays at the airport if your identification is questioned. Overall, the goal is to make flying safer and easier.
Q: When did the program begin?
A: Starting in May, the TSA cleared airlines to begin collecting full names of passengers when they book tickets. On Aug. 15, airlines were cleared to begin collecting gender and date of birth.
Q: Which airlines have implemented Secure Flight, and when will the rest do it?
A: Citing security reasons, the TSA won’t say.
American’s Tim Wagner said he believed his airline was the first major carrier to begin collecting gender and date of birth from passengers. It’s not as easy as it seems, he added.
“It took millions of dollars and thousands and thousands of man-hours to do this,” Wagner said. Airlines must update their reservation systems, train staff to collect the information and make other changes.
Q: Why does the TSA care about my full name, date of birth and gender?
A: These are three key pieces of information that help identify you in government databases. The name that you book your plane ticket under should be as it appears on the government-issued photo ID, such as a driver’s license or passport, that you use when traveling.
Q: What if I book my ticket under, say ” Sue Smith,” when the full name on my driver’s license is “Susan Wilson Smith”? Or if I’m off a digit on my birth date? Will I be barred from boarding an airline that is using Secure Flight?
A: “If there are slight changes, it’s not going to be a headache,” the TSA’s Payne said, and that might include omission of your middle name. Wagner confirmed that minor differences between the name on your ticket and the name on your government ID “doesn’t matter at the gate.”
But it’s in your self-interest to make the two match and to give your full name when you book your ticket. The more complete the information, the easier it is for the TSA to precisely identify you (i.e., there are probably a lot more “Sue Smiths” out there than “Susan Wilson Smiths.”). And not everyone may agree on what a slight name difference is, as one traveler who booked a flight through Priceline said he recently found out.
Q: Will I have to give my full name, gender and date of birth every time I buy a plane ticket on an airline that has implemented Secure Flight?
A: In general, yes. But In the case of American Airlines, for instance, customers who belong to the frequent-flier program can enter the information into their online profiles, and then it will automatically be added when they book a ticket, Wagner said.
Q: Where can I find more information about Secure Flight?
A: The TSA has posted program details on its website. And here’s a link to American Airlines’ news release on how it’s handling the program.
— Jane Engle, assistant Los Angeles Times Travel editor
[Photo: Karan Bhatia checks his bags at the American Airlines terminal at Los Angeles International Airport in May 2008. Credit: Gary Friedman/Los Angeles Times]
2 Comments on “Q&A: What is TSA’s Secure Flight and how does it affect you?”
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September 16th, 2009 at 10:53 am
I wrote to my representative about this when the news broke. The US Government uses four different versions of my name. My passport has my last name with a hyphen but the airline does not use the hyphen (nor does Social Security/Medicare despite constant requests). So will the TSA consider this a”minor” or “major” issue? I find this new program to be far from comforting. They should ditch the whole “no-fly” list and start over. Or better yet, get rid of Homeland Security.
October 8th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
First of all, TSA does not have law making powers. Laws are universal.
This sounds like another slap shod attempt for TSA to gain more and more power. The article says the benefit is to more “precisely identify” me.
What does this mean? Why would I need to be more precisely identified if I am not on a watch list?
Plus, requesting this information online is a liability for being hacked.
This is another attempt that is not well thought out mascarading as an attempt to make US citizens more secure when it works just the opposite.
I am disappointed that the notable
Las Angeles Times would publish information with a high inference of this being a requirement instead of a request.
This is an attempt by a subcontractor to circumvent the US Government. If TSA thought it was something that needed to be in effect, they should have recommended it to the Congress instead of making an adhoc decision administered in an adhoc manner.
I will be talking to my representative to find out when Congress have abdicated their law making powers to a subcontractor that they hired. Thank goodness Haliburton never claimed to make laws.
Paula Dowell