Effective November 1, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) requires passengers to provide complete Secure Flight passenger data when booking reservations so TSA can conduct watch list matching and approve airlines to issue a boarding pass.
To avoid unnecessary delays and prevent misidentifications, the TSA is advising passengers to provide complete Secure Flight data when booking airline travel, whether they have booked directly with the airline, a travel agent or an online booking site.
Secure Flight requires airlines to collect a passenger’s full name (as it appears on government-issued ID), date of birth, gender and Redress Number (if applicable). By providing complete information, passengers can significantly decrease the likelihood of watch list misidentification, TSA says.
Secure Flight watch list matching takes a matter of seconds to complete, and providing this data enables passengers to print their boarding passes at home or at an airline kiosk, TSA notes.
The November 1 deadline marks the end of the year-long grace period for airlines to clear out their systems of older reservations made before Secure Flight requirements took effect in October 2009.
After November 1, 2010, Secure Flight will not conduct watch list matching or approve the issuance of a boarding pass by an airline if complete passenger data is not submitted, the TSA says.
Savvy airlines such as Lufthansa are reminding passengers of the deadline that applies to all international flights to and from the United States as well as to flights within the U.S., irrespective of when the booking was made. The TSA has a special section of advice for travel agents as well as tools available to communicate the new rules at www.TSA.gov.