TSA Update - Secure Flight

IMPORTANT TSA SECURITY UPDATE
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Secure Flight is a program developed to provide uniform watch list matching by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The mission of the Secure Flight program is to enhance the security of domestic and international commercial air travel through the use of improved watch list matching to identify known and suspected terrorists.

All travelers will be required to provide:

Full name (as it appears on passenger’s government-issued ID)
Date of birth
Gender
Redress Number (if available)

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The airlines will send the information you provide to TSA and TSA will match it against the No Fly and Selectee watch lists. By providing this information in advance, most passengers will not experience any differences from the way they traveled before as a result of Secure Flight.

What are the benefits of Secure Flight?
Secure Flight provides numerous benefits to the traveling public. First, Secure Flight protects sensitive watch list data. The program also enables officials to address security threats sooner, keeping air travel safer. By implementing one watch list matching system, the program provides a fair and consistent matching process across all airlines and reduces the chance of being misidentified. Secure Flight offers an improved redress process, so that those who are mistakenly matched to the watch list can avoid further problems in the future.

Protecting passenger privacy
The privacy of individuals’ information is a cornerstone of Secure Flight. TSA collects the minimum amount of personal information necessary to conduct effective watch list matching. Furthermore, personal data is collected, used, distributed, stored, and disposed of in accordance with stringent guidelines and all applicable privacy laws and regulations.

Redress – for passengers who feel they have been misidentified
Those who believe they have been mistakenly matched to a name on the watch list are invited to apply for Redress through the Department of Homeland Security Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (DHS TRIP). Secure Flight uses the results of the redress process in its watch list matching process, thus preventing future misidentifications for passengers who may have a name that’s similar to an individual on the watch list. For more information on the redress process, visit www.dhs.gov/trip.

When does the name as it appears on the government-issued I.D. requirement go into effect? When MUST the name I use to make my reservation match the name as it appears on my government-issued ID exactly?
Secure Flight requires that domestic aircraft operators request and collect passengers names as it appears on their government-issued I.D. when traveling as of May 15, 2009, and date of birth and gender as of August 15, 2009 for their domestic flights. For international flights, name as it appears on their government-issued I.D., date of birth, and gender must be requested and collected as of October 31, 2009. TSA has built some flexibility into the processes regarding passenger name accuracy. For the near future, small differences between the passenger’s ID and the passenger’s reservation information, such as the use of a middle initial instead of a full middle name or no middle name/initial at all, should not cause a problem for the passenger. Over time, passengers should strive to obtain consistency between the name on their ID and their travel information.

To learn more about Secure Flight visit www.tsa.gov.