News

Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

All passengers making airline reservations for travel to the United States are now required to provide their birth date, sex and passport number, as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) tightens access to flights operating in its airspace.

The information is required 72 hours in advance of travel.

Tagged 'Secure Flight', a recommendation of the 9/11 Commission, came into effect on September 16. The information provided at the time seats are booked must exactly match the data on each traveller's ID, says a news report on the Homeland Security website.

The move is aimed at cauterising a repeat of the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on December 29, 2009. The flight was the target of a failed al-Qaida plot, in which a passenger tried to detonate plastic explosives sewn to his underwear, although the passenger's name was listed on the 'No Fly' list.

The Secure Flight programme is a collaboration of the DHS and United States (US) Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

One of the US' largest carriers, American Airlines, in letters to their passengers, have described the introduction of the reservation rules as "designed to enhance the security of domestic and international commercial air travel by streamlining the DHS watch list-matching process".

Reservation

The airline said that all passengers must have Secure Flight Passenger Data (SFPD) in their reservation at least 72 hours prior to departure.

"You will be unable to travel without providing this information," said American.

Only passengers who are cleared to fly by the TSA will be given boarding passes.

The airline noted that compliance with this mandate will require that any ticket purchase on or after September 15 will need to provide SFPD.

Efforts to get a comment from national carrier Air Jamaica proved futile, as its public relations unit is now based in Trinidad and Tobago.

In the meantime, passengers may go to www.aa.com/secureflight for further information.

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com