[Infowarrior] - TSA plan to gather more data protested

[Richard Forno]

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2007-11-29-secure-flights_N.htm

TSA plan to gather more data protested
By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON ‹ A government proposal to start collecting birth dates and
genders of people reserving airline flights is drawing protests from major
airlines and travel agencies that say it would be invasive, confusing and
"useless."

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) wants passengers to give
the additional personal information ‹ as well as their full names ‹ so it
can do more precise background checks that it says will result in fewer
travelers being mistaken for terrorists. Travelers currently must provide
only a last name and a first initial.

BLOG: Vote on the new TSA proposal at OnDeadline

Airlines say passengers will resist providing more details and that the
process will be time-consuming.

Asking a passenger's birth date and gender "would create a new level of
complication for completing air reservations," United Airlines recently
wrote to the TSA. "Seeking useless data carries an unacceptably high price
tag."

The Air Transport Association, a trade group of major U.S. airlines, the
American Society of Travel Agents and Continental and Virgin airlines also
opposed, in writing, the TSA asking for travelers' birth dates and genders.
Opposition is not as strong for soliciting full names.

TSA is seeking more personal information as part of a long-delayed plan to
improve preflight background checks of the 700 million people who fly
commercially each year in the USA.

The plan centers on transferring the task of checking passenger backgrounds
from airlines to the TSA. The transfer is required by a law enacted in 2004
and was urged by the 9/11 Commission that year.

The commission said the TSA can do a better job because it can check
passengers against the complete government terrorist watch lists instead of
partial lists used by airlines. The TSA expects to take over background
checks next year, though many airlines said the agency's plans don't give
them enough time to change their reservation systems and enable the switch.

Under a TSA proposal published in August, airlines and travel agents would
be required to ask people reserving flights for their birth date, gender and
full name. Travelers, however, would not be required to give the new
information.

People who don't comply could be more easily mistaken for a terrorist and
"may be more likely to experience delays, be subjected to additional
screening (or) be denied transport," the TSA wrote.

The TSA proposal received support in recent comments from the Air Line
Pilots Association and the Air Carrier Association of America, which
represents low-cost airlines such as AirTran and Frontier.

Getting the extra personal information "will result in fewer holdups at the
check-in counters and will allow airlines greater ease in processing
passengers," the carrier association wrote.