After much discussion of the new TSA “Secure Flight” program, Continental Airlines announced as of last Friday that it will be the first domestic airline to implement the program. On all new reservations, the airline will now require travelers to provide their full names as they appear on their government issued ID, their date of birth, and their gender, at time of booking.
Continental is bypassing potential frequent flier issues, by not requiring the name to match the traveler’s Onepass frequent flier account. And in fact, the name will not even have to match the exact name on the ticket. But it will be entered as supplemental information. For travel agents, this will be in an SSR (Special Service Request, yet another example of industry jargon.)
No word yet what Continental will do if the agent enters the information incorrectly. Or if the reservations systems travel agents use don’t transmit it in the format the airline has requested. As a California agent, I have not booked Continental under the new system yet, nor has our Galileo GDS system sent us instructions. Apparently the information can also be called in by phone, or given by the traveler to the airline directly, should they not want to share the data with their agent or travel arranger.
Other than it being one more time-consuming thing to do with a reservation, the new practice does bring up more than a few questions. (And yes, in California, especially the San Francisco area, one wonders what the airline’s response will be with a transgender individual.)
The most serious question that comes to mind, however, is a security issue. While most travelers are careful with their credit cards, date of birth is an important piece of information as well for potential identity thieves, especially when combined with other information. Though my sense is that people who would not send their credit card in an email might be more likely to casually email their birthdate.
And since I can imagine that most people won’t want to give the information for every trip, agents may have to store the data in computer profiles. Where currently the only security “masking” is for credit cards.
Clearly, this is all a work in progress. And while I am not especially nervous about computer security, as the new rules expand to other airlines, Murphy’s Law is almost certainly lurking out there somewhere.
In the meantime, travelers who have lied about their real middle (or first) name, or age to their administrative assistants, coworkers, travel arrangers, and agents, be prepared: The truth may not set you free, but it will now be necessary to keep you on your flight.
(Photo: Ivan Makarov/Flickr Creative Commons)
Janice Hough is a California-based travel agent a travel blogger and a part-time comedy writer. A frequent flier herself, she’s been doing battle with airlines, hotels, and other travel companies for over three decades. Besides writing for Travelers United, Janice has a humor blog at Leftcoastsportsbabe.com (Warning, the political and sports humor therein does not represent the views of anyone but herself.)
