TSA Eyes Secure Flight Clarity

The Transportation Security Administration this month clarified aspects of the Secure Flight program, noting that names on boarding passes do not have to exactly match those on government-issued photo IDs, in an attempt to overturn some misperceptions about the program.

BCD Travel in a memo to account managers this month noted, "Conflicting statements and compliance dates issued earlier this year by various entities in the corporate travel industry have caused confusion over the program. Some of that confusion now is being cleared up by the TSA and airlines."

BCD Travel senior vice president Rose Stratford this month said BCD has been in frequent touch with clients regarding the program. "We want to make sure that our clients are well aware that this does not change the process of how you check in at the security checkpoint," Stratford said. "Everything you do today will remain the same: You don't have to change your identification if it closely matches with how your name appears in the PNR."

TSA unveiled some aspects of the passenger prescreening program in May, requiring airlines to be prepared to collect passengers' full names beginning May 15 and date of birth and gender beginning Aug. 15. Even so, domestic carriers will roll out the program on a staggered basis through the end of March 2010, TSA said. It expects travel agencies to "collect the necessary data in a timeframe that corresponds with the aircraft operator's timeframe." The program requires airlines—and their agents—to collect a passenger's full name, date of birth and gender.

TSA on its Web site this month noted, "Boarding passes may not always display the exact name you provided when booking your travel. The name you provide is used to perform the watchlist matching before a boarding pass is ever issued, so small differences should not impact your travel."

Stewart Harvey, director of client management at HRG, said the message to clients is "don't panic, but don't postpone," noting clients should prepare to educate their travelers that they may need to update profiles or provide further information at the point of sale. "Most customers want to populate what they've got against their own central hierarchy," Harvey said. "They'd put the onus on the individual by sending that profile and telling them it's their responsibility to make sure the information is accurate and reflects your ID or passport."

TMCs said they would be prepared this summer to collect new data sets required by Secure Flight.

CWT North America director of quality and customer experience Steve Williamson said the TMC would enable functionality to collect date of birth and gender this month "and begin to request and collect each of the Secure Flight data elements within CWT Portrait traveler profiles, CWT Horizon online reservations and reservations made with CWT travel counselors." Williamson said, "For clients using third-party online booking tools, the dates for collection may vary."

Stratford said BCD expects to start collecting gender and date of birth by Aug. 3.

An American Express spokesperson said, "We're working with online booking tools and GDSs to ready the tech to receive this information, and where additional information needs to be collected, travelers need to provide this new information that wasn't needed before."