“I’m sorry, but your passport information does not match the information in your reservation,” the airline ticketing agent tells a passenger as he checks in for his international flight.
“What do you mean it doesn’t match,” asks the passenger. “The reservation name does not include your middle name as it appears on your passport,” the agent replies. “I’m sorry, but under federal law, we must deny boarding.” The passenger responds, “But I’m traveling with 25 other people on a mission trip.” “It doesn’t matter,” says the agent, “we can be fined $27,500 under the Secure Flight Program if we let you board the plane.”
This scenario could happen to you or your short term mission team starting this fall under U.S. government regulations known as the Secure Flight Program (SFP). Although the program started phasing-in last year, airlines begin strict enforcement on international flights starting in November. SFP requires certain passenger information be entered into their reservation at least 72 hours before departure or the airline will deny boarding. Starting September 15 the SFP information must be in the reservation before a ticket can even be issued. It is required for all travel starting November 1 regardless of when the tickets were issued.
The SFP information includes the passenger’s full name as it appears on their government issued identification. This means that international travelers must use the name exactly as it appears in their passport, even if it is different from their driver’s license or other IDs. SFP also requires the passenger’s birth date, gender, and a Redress Number if they have one. Redress Numbers are for those who are accidentally put on a government watch or no-fly list, or who are mistaken for someone on the list. For more information on redress visit http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/customer/redress/index.shtm .
What does this mean to Ministry Travel clients?
It means that you need to accurately provide all of the above information when making your reservation. Many times groups make their reservations before all of their members have received their passports. This can create problems if the passport has different information than what was given at the time of reservation. This happens a lot with married vs. maiden names—the married name is given for the reservation but their passport is in the maiden name. Other common problems are with middle names, especially if the person has multiple middle names or if they have a hyphenated last name.
Here are some suggestions for group leaders.
- Make sure that your trip applications or registration forms ask participants for their full legal name exactly as it appears or will appear on their passport.
- Require that team member’s provide a copy of their passport with their trip application or registration. If they don’t yet have a passport, give them a time frame that they must apply for one—say within two weeks after trip registration (sooner depending on when you are leaving)—and then require a copy as soon as they receive it. This not only ensures that you have accurate information to make the reservations, but also provides passport copies for your team leader to carry during the trip–which makes getting a new passport easier if one is lost or stolen while traveling.
- Refer to the passport copies when you provide passenger information to your Ministry Travel agent. Make sure that it is clear to the agent what the first, middle and last names are.
- Once you receive reservation confirmation from your Ministry Travel agent, immediately double check the spelling of each person’s name in the reservation against the passport copies. If there are any discrepancies, notify Ministry Travel right away.
By following these suggestions you will ensure that everyone on your team meets the Secure Flight requirements and that no one will be denied boarding when it’s time for your ministry trip. For more information, visit www.tsa.gov/secureflight.