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US takes steps to reduce check-in delays

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: Every person who travels in the United States has his name checked against a watch list maintained by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and often a minor similarity to a name that is considered suspect is enough to have perfectly innocent travellers subjected to extra and occasionally unpleasant or humiliating scrutiny.

A letter issued by the office of the Homeland Security Department ombudsman regarding check-in delays at airports states that for a number of years before the 9/11 attacks, the federal government had issued directives prohibiting individuals, who posed, or were suspected of posing, a threat to civil aviation from transport by the airlines. After 9/11, TSA assumed responsibility for what has become known as the No Fly List. The federal government also maintains a Selectee List of individuals who must undergo additional screening before being permitted to fly. Collectively, these lists are referred to as Watch Lists. TSA compiles the Watch Lists based on recommendations and information received from federal agencies, including those involved in intelligence and law enforcement. TSA requires airlines to verify each passenger’s name against the Watch Lists prior to clearing that person for travel.

The letter says, “TSA recognises that implementation of the Watch Lists has occasionally led to frustrating delays at airports for individuals inadvertently impacted by the clearance procedures. You may experience delays if your name is the same as, or similar to, the name of a person on the Watch Lists. We regret this inconvenience and have developed a clearance protocol that should provide a more efficient process for you during flight check-in.”

In order to avail of this “concession,” a person is required to complete a Passenger Identity Verification Form, providing all personal details and notarised copies of three important documents, such as passport, birth certificate, US visa etc. After scrutinising the form, TSA says it will notify in writing the applicant of its “determination”. “Appropriate parties,” including the airlines, will also be advised of the “determination” made to facilitate check-in formalities. TSA warns that the clearance process “will not remove a name from the Watch Lists. Instead this process distinguishes passengers from persons who are in fact on the Watch Lists by placing their names and identifying information in a cleared portion of the Lists. This information is transmitted to the airlines. Airline personnel can then more quickly determine when implementing TSA-required identity verification procedures that these passengers are not the person of interest whose name is actually on the Watch Lists.”

TSA also makes it clear that the clearance it accords “may not eliminate the need to go to the ticket counter in order to check-in,” adding that while it cannot ensure that the proposed procedure will relieve “all delays,” it should result in a more efficient check-in process. TSA has issued guidance to airlines to “clarify further the Watch List clearance protocol”. TSA’s clearance procedures apply only to persons affected by the Watch Lists. There are also other reasons that a passenger may experience delays, such as random selection for additional screening, an alarm created at a security checkpoint or increased security levels requiring additional screening.

Daniel Sutherland of Homeland Security told a seminar last week, “We need to build a level of commitment and trust that’s unprecedented in our nation’s history, not an ‘us-versus-them’ perception in the community.”

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