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Secure Flight

Secure Flight is a program developed to provide uniform watch list matching by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The mission of the Secure Flight program is to enhance the security of domestic and international commercial air travel through the use of improved watch list matching to identify known and suspected terrorists.

How will Secure Flight affect passengers?

Under the Secure Flight program, passengers will be required to provide:

  • Full name (as it appears on passenger's government-issued ID)
  • Date of birth
  • Gender
  • Redress Number (if available)

Continental Airlines will send the information you provide to TSA and TSA will match it against the No Fly and Selectee watch lists. By providing this information in advance, most passengers will not experience any differences from the way they traveled before as a result of Secure Flight.

What are the benefits of Secure Flight?

Secure Flight provides numerous benefits to the traveling public. First, Secure Flight protects sensitive watch list data. The program also enables officials to address security threats sooner, keeping air travel safer. By implementing one watch list matching system, the program provides a fair and consistent matching process across all airlines and reduces the chance of being misidentified. Secure Flight offers an improved redress process, so that those who are mistakenly matched to the watch list can avoid further problems in the future.

Protecting passenger privacy

The privacy of individuals' information is a cornerstone of Secure Flight. TSA collects the minimum amount of personal information necessary to conduct effective watch list matching. Furthermore, personal data is collected, used, distributed, stored, and disposed of in accordance with stringent guidelines and all applicable privacy laws and regulations.

Redress — for passengers who feel they have been misidentified

Those who believe they have been mistakenly matched to a name on the watch list are invited to apply for Redress through the Department of Homeland Security Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (DHS TRIP). Secure Flight uses the results of the redress process in its watch list matching process, thus preventing future misidentifications for passengers who may have a name that's similar to an individual on the watch list. For more information on the redress process, visit www.dhs.gov/trip.

To learn more about Secure Flight visit www.tsa.gov.

Frequently Asked Questions

Below are answers to a number of frequently asked questions regarding the Secure Flight Program.

How should the customer's name appear on the ticket?

Full first, middle and last name should be on the ticket and must match the customer's name on their valid non-expired government issued photo ID such as Driver's License or Passport.

How will this impact names and information on a customer's OnePass account? Will the name on an account need to be updated or changed?

No changes to customer's OnePass accounts are necessary at this time. In the future, a customer will be able to specify how the name appears for Secure Flight as part of the OnePass profile.

How will gender and date of birth information be entered into the passenger record (PNR)?Will this affect the way traveler profiles are built/stored in travel agency systems or self booking tools?

The travel industry is working to determine how gender and date of birth information will be entered into a passenger record (PNR). Preliminary instructions for travel agents may be available from the reservation systems provider or GDS.

Since the required information should be received 72 hours prior to flight time, are there any issues with name corrections or new reservations booked less than 72 hours prior to departure?

No. TSA has mandated that all data stored in the reservation must be sent to the TSA at 72 hours prior to scheduled flight departure, therefore data should be accurate and complete at that time. For customer information that is added, changed, or reservations built less than 72 hours before schedule departure, the data will be sent to the TSA when the reservations is made or amended.

How will Continental Airlines work with travel agencies to ensure they have the required customer information?

All agencies that book travel on Continental Airlines will be required to request and collect the data. The travel industry is upgrading and standardizing system programming that will provide the ability to transmit newly required Secure Flight Passenger data between travel agency system and the airlines.

Privacy Notice:

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) requires you to provide your full name, date of birth, and gender for the purpose of watch list screening, under the authority of 49 U.S.C. section 114, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 and 49 C.F.R parts 1540 and 1560. You may also provide your Redress Number, if available. Failure to provide your full name, date of birth, and gender may result in denial of transport or denial of authority to enter the boarding area. TSA may share information you provide with law enforcement or intelligence agencies or others under its published system of records notice. For more on TSA privacy policies, or to review the system of records notice and the privacy impact assessment, please see the TSA Web site at www.tsa.gov

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