We recognize that we have made the Secure Flight program a monthly feature of our newsletter; it is because the changes to the government’s program when followed completely can make your travel experience seamless. This past week one of our staff members had an opportunity to attend a conference call with the TSA that more completely outlined the details of the program and answered many questions.
Secure Flight is designed to clear travelers behind the scene, using the data required and then allowing for a boarding pass, which permits travelers to process to their flight without additional screening. It enhances the overall security or commercial air travel; providing fair, equitable, consistent matching across all carriers.
What changed? The TSA is now responsible for comparing the names of all travelers with those names on the watch list. To accomplish this task they begin receiving the names of everyone holding a confirmed reservation 72 hours prior to departure. These names are then compared to the watch lists. The travelers are then cleared to access their boarding passes 24 hours prior to departure. Travelers who book within 72 hours are immediately processed by the TSA and provided they are not on the watch list they too have access to the boarding pass.
When booking air service, every traveler is required to provide full name, as it appears on their ID, date of birth and gender; these details are provided to the air carriers as a part of the ticket and they submit the details to the TSA.
Currently the carriers, along with the travel reservation systems, are working through their processes to ensure the complete name appears on the ticket. This structure change may take some time, but the TSA is communicating that this will not affect anyone’s ability to clear security.
If you are someone whose name is similar to an individual on the watch list, you are able to work with the TSA to obtain a “Redress Number”. When ever you make a reservation for air travel you provide this redress number, and your clearance is made less challenging. To obtain a Redress Number, please visit www.dhs.gov/trip
The next dead-line is August 15th when all traveler information is required to be in the profile and then to be provided to the carriers. This is an on-going process and implementation to reach the desired goal of enhanced security.