9:51 AM Wednesday Dec 1, 2010
Every airline that flies to the United States is now collecting names, genders and birth dates of passengers so the US government can check them against terror watch lists before they fly.
Getting all 197 air carriers that travel to or through the United States to pre-screen passengers marks a milestone in the US government's counter-terror efforts.
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A passenger walks past a sign informing travellers about the use of full-body scanners for TSA security screening at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Seattle. Photo / AP |
The programme, called Secure Flight, has been delayed for years because of privacy problems and went through three versions before it was approved. It is designed to give US authorities more time to identify and remove suspected terrorists from flights and reduce instances when passengers are mistaken for people on terror watch lists.
Misidentification of passengers has been one of the biggest inconveniences in post-September 11 air travel, and is widely known for putting thousands of innocent travellers and well-known figures such as the late Senator Ted Kennedy through extensive searching and questioning before they were allowed to fly.
Previously, airlines have been responsible for checking passenger lists against terror watch lists. But the airlines did not have any information other than a name.
Now the screening is done by the US Transportation Security Administration.
The more information available about a passenger, the less likely a passenger will be mistaken for someone on a watch list. When someone makes a flight reservation, that information goes to the Secure Flight database within seconds, TSA Administrator John Pistole said.
Compliance with the programme has been phased in over the past year, and many travellers already have been supplying their gender, birth dates and full names as they appear on government identification when they buy their tickets.
Pistole said it is too early to tell whether there have been fewer instances of mistaken identities now that the new system is in place.
"It's just still too early to say," he said.
"If six months from now we haven't seen a reduction, then that will concern me."
- AP
