Tulsa World: American Airlines beefs up security

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American Airlines beefs up security
Secure Flight is aimed at reducing mismatches between travelers and suspected terrorists.

By D.R. STEWART World Staff Writer
Published: 9/16/2009 2:25 AM
Last Modified: 9/16/2009 4:24 AM

American Airlines has begun asking passengers for more complete identification during the ticketing and check-in process as part of the federal government's data-matching program, company executives said Tuesday.

American is one of the first U.S. airlines to launch Secure Flight, the $239.4 million Transportation Security Administration program aimed at reducing misidentified matches between travelers and suspected terrorists.

The TSA program requires passengers to provide airline employees their first, middle and last names as they appear on their government-issued identification. Passengers also are required to give their birth date, gender and TSA redress number if the passenger previously has had difficulty boarding commercial aircraft.

In a process that is completed behind the scenes via computer data bases and before passengers arrive at the airport for their flight, the names of travelers are compared with names on TSA's Terrorist Watch List, agency officials said.

A match of names with those on the Terrorist Watch List could cause TSA officers to require secondary screening of passengers or prohibit passengers from boarding aircraft, officials said.

"All airlines will be collecting Secure Flight information by early 2010," said TSA spokeswoman Andrea McCauley.

Secure Flight was rolled out earlier this year by TSA when the agency began requiring airlines to ask passengers for their full names as they appear on driver's licenses and passports.

The second phase of the program was implemented Aug. 15 when TSA requested airlines to ask for passengers' gender and date of birth.

The information will be collected during the booking process by airlines and travel agents and relayed to TSA, which will verify names against those on the Terrorist Watch List.

"It has nothing to do with the TSA (security checkpoint) experience at the airport," said American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner. "It's all done behind the scenes.

"For some people, this should speed up the travel experience. For those whose names are similar to someone on the watch list, it will prevent them from undergoing extra screening."

Southwest Airlines, which operates 17 flights a day at Tulsa International Airport — one more than American — won't begin collecting the additional passenger identification information until next month, Southwest spokesmen said.

TSA's McCauley said less than 2,500 people are on TSA's "No-Fly" list and fewer than 10 percent of them are U.S. residents.

Secure Flight was developed by the Department of Homeland Security in response to a recommendation by the 9/11 Commission that TSA implement uniform watch-list matching.

TSA is taking over the responsibility of terrorist watch-list matching from the airlines.

Secure Flight passenger watch-list matching will eventually apply to all domestic and international passengers traveling on flights into, out of, within or over the United States, the agency says on it Web site at www.tsa.gov .

D.R. Stewart 581-8451
don.stewart@tulsaworld.com By D.R. STEWART World Staff Writer

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	Report Comment Trevor Goodchild, Tulsa (9/16/2009 6:47:20 AM) Almost $250mil to make sure I'm not mistakenly matched to a list of fewer than 2,500 names...well, ya gotta do what ya gotta do.
	Report Comment Dobrescu, Tulsa, OK (9/16/2009 8:47:01 AM) I guess we'll have to drop our draws to prove we're male or female! Wonder who comes up with these off the wall procedures.
	Report Comment FS, Broken Arrow (9/16/2009 9:38:50 AM) Dobrescu, Tulsa, OK (9/16/2009 8:47:01 AM) ... snip Wonder who comes up with these off the wall procedures? _______________________ Thousands Standing Around (TSA) is justifying their jobs again.
	Report Comment Guillermo, (9/16/2009 12:43:17 PM) What an over engineered system, the government is running the airline industry. I rode Amtrak recently they didn't have all the security, check points, security standing around, etc. We seem to over react to everything in this country, throw money at it and whoops it will work! Wrong!
	Report Comment Darkstar, (9/16/2009 4:05:59 PM) When is TSA going to give free prostate exams?
	Report Comment Webmeister, Tulsa (9/16/2009 4:24:05 PM) Dobrescu: In a literal sense, you're already dropping your drawers at TIA. They have two milimeter wave radar scanners that look beneath your clothing while you stand with your arms outraised, and it can readily see ALL the relevant bits and pieces. SMILE: You're naked body is on U.S. Goobermint candid camera. However, be advised that the Heimat Sicherheit Dienst PROMISES that those images of your naked body will never be permanently stored. Without defining "permanently".....of course. Ah, the Glamour of travel......
	Report Comment tulsaGuy, (9/16/2009 9:42:38 PM) Sorry skeptics... I think this is a good move.
	Report Comment Dobrescu, Tulsa, OK (9/17/2009 6:45:21 AM) I just purchased tickets on AA (can't use dot com) and doing it on line the tickets used the names of record in the AA Advantage program. Well now the names on the tickets DO NOT match the names on either our passports or our drivers license. So I guess today I'll spent time on the phone trying to talk to some one and try and get the names on the tickets changed to match our passports. Then down to the tag office and see if they will issue a new DL with the name that matches the passport. Need to get these all to match or one of the "stand arounds" won't let us through the scanner. What a waste of time.
	Report Comment Faith, (9/17/2009 10:25:25 PM) I think they should have already been doing this and all should be for our safety.
	Report Comment Barf-Bag, Chouteau (9/19/2009 10:15:09 PM) Dobrescu---Dang my name is what I use on everything, it started on my birth record certificate.......imagine........ Power to them intrying to unseat potential threats beforehand. If you fly any at all, have a grade school education, can read and write, and etc, you know what the procedure is going to be........most of the back up at the check points can be avoided, but no, people are messing with lap tops, talking on cell phones or they just wait till they get to the head of the line before preparing for the x-rays. My daddy always told me if I didn't like the rules, then don't play the game, so if you don't like the rules take the train, drive your car, heck even walk as far as I'm concerned. No need to complain, grow up, it's not going to change because you don't like the rules.
	Report Comment eglkeeper, Lower Mongolia (9/20/2009 5:48:20 AM) Had the misfortune to fly AA twice in the past week and no assistance or additional interface with AA personnel was required. Went something like this: Go to the AA Kiosk, enter data, recieve tickets and then hand personnel information to bored individual behind desk, watch bored individual scribble something on your ticket, proceed to long line, undress and watch others undress, step into xray booth to have gentile region scanned, stumble through line with 2 gray tubs in hand to redress around total strangers. Aint flying a hoot I ask? You get to do all this before sitting in a pressurized tube with no leg room and a waitress advises you how to engage a seat belt. If your lucky enough to crash into a pond, your seat cushion can be used as a floating device.

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