ASTA reminds agents that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will reject reservations for travel on or after Nov. 1 that do not include full Secure Flight Passenger Data.

All Secure Flight data must be in the PNR within 72 hours of travel, or immediately if the reservation is made within 72 hours of departure.

GDSs provide ways to search PNRs for future travel dates.

Secure Flight is a behind-the-scenes list matching process that vets passengers against government watch lists. It happens before passengers arrive at the airport so current security checkpoint procedures remain the same. It was designed to help satisfy the TSA’s goal of vetting 100% of passengers on all domestic commercial flights by early 2010 and 100% of passengers on all international commercial flights into, out of, or over the U.S. by the end of 2010.

ASTA is continuing to work closely with TSA on the implementation of Secure Flight in a way that will reduce the adverse impact on agents and consumers, said ASTA President and Chair Chris Russo. “ASTA has actively supported the concept and implementation of Secure Flight from its inception and will continue to do so to assure to the maximum extent possible that all member bookings are fully compliant.”
 
Secure Flight’s Final Rules require that every covered aircraft operator collect each passenger’s full name, date of birth, gender and Redress Number, if one exists (collectively referred to as SFPD) when a reservation on a covered flight is made within 72 hours of the flight’s scheduled departure. The Redress Number is a unique number that the Department of Homeland Security assigns to individuals who use the department’s Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (TRIP) to promote resolution with previous Watch List alerts for those who believe they were mistakenly put on a Watch List.

If a reservation is made within 72 hours of the flight’s scheduled departure, the SFPD must be collected at the time of booking. Each aircraft operator will have to ensure that each third party that accepts a reservation on its behalf complies with these requirements. After Nov. 1, 2010, Secure Flight will no longer accept passenger records that do not contain the full SFPD. This policy will apply to all passenger records regardless of source, aircraft operator or air carrier.