Checking In

A common name just won't fly

Thu Feb 15, 12:39 PM ET

When Chris Moore flies, he can't use a skycap or an e-ticket — he has to get cleared from an airline representative to get a boarding pass.

When he travels with a group of coworkers, they all go to the airport lounge for a drink, while Moore waits in lines. His crime? A very common name, which happens to be on the government's no-fly list.

"I wonder, do they actually get on the phone and ask security, 'I have this six-foot-one white guy.' 'Oh no, we're looking for a guy who's five feet tall wearing a turban and answers to the name of Chris Moore," said Moore, who travels to Orlando, San Diego and Salt Lake City regularly to set up tradeshow booths for companies who make surf fashion.

Moore's troubles amount to a lot of inconvenience. But if the Department of

Homeland Security makes good on a promise to launch a system that would correct such mistakes, he might at least be able to complain about it.

A new DHS Web site, DHS Trip (www.dhs.gov/trip), is slated to go live on February 20. (It's not up yet, I just checked today.) TRIP stands for traveler redress inquiry program. The program will allow travelers who think they have been unfairly put on the no-fly list — or are simply victims of mistaken identity — to fill out a form online to plead their case and then track its progress. The site can also handle foreigners who believe they were incorrectly denied a U.S. travel visa or others being pulled aside for secondary screening by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, according to U.S. News & World Report.

If TRIP doesn't work, fliers can resort to a more graphic form of protest, as one German tourist recently did at the Manila airport. Hans Jurgen Oskar von Naguschewski, 66, took off his pants after being asked to go through security twice. "Authorities were not amused," the Associated Press reported. Instead of boarding his flight to Frankfurt, he was detained by police and faces between six months and six years in jail.

Write to: Barbara Correa at bboydstoncorrea@yahoo.com

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Comments

Join the discussion. Here you'll see the comments in the order they were posted.

1
The no-fly list does show drivers license numbers, physical descriptions of the person in question and passport numbers if available.
Posted by camo_ken on Fri, Feb 16, 2007 5:43 AM ET
2
I'm glad to see someone trying to point out the discrimination in this. Why can't the Homeland security create a way for the common name people to be checked out on a list so we can give our SS or DL # and check in online. This request is from a 6'5" 50 yr old white male, gray haired Texan that wishes he could get his hands on a terrorist every time I have to stand in the criminal line to prove my innocence.
Posted by djonesmail on Fri, Feb 16, 2007 8:41 AM ET
3
i truly believe that if the government wasn't doing ANYTHING people would still complain! I believe that they do odd things such as this to throw off any regularity, keep things INconsistant, why not? they are doing SOMETHING! As I have said time and time again, if you don't like the way things are run in the states, 2 choices, VOTE or MOVE.
Posted by sherigoodrich69 on Fri, Feb 16, 2007 8:51 AM ET
4
Why can't they have a system where if your name is on the no-fly list that you can in essence be "cleared" and have an i.d. card of some sort proving it? I guess this is an extension of "djones" comment.
Posted by dankysar on Fri, Feb 16, 2007 10:47 AM ET
5
Where are those "leen and hongry" contingency fee lawyers when we need them?
Posted by kxn66 on Sun, Feb 18, 2007 2:38 PM ET
6
Hello this is Hilary Clinton God Bless America
Posted by jmsmith3743 on Sun, Feb 18, 2007 7:22 PM ET
7
This guy is a racist, saying that they are looking for someone wearing a turban in a joke. Not everyone who wears a turban is a terrorist. This is another bad example of ignorant and intolerant people
Posted by xanxz on Tue, Feb 20, 2007 7:04 AM ET
8
Remember back before there was a Homeland Security department? The gripe back then was that the airlines hired private security firms on the cheap that were improperly trained. So along comes Homeland Security to the rescue. What do we have now? We have to take our shoes off and we can't carry a bottle of hair gel on the plane (unless it's less than 3 oz, as if that makes any difference). The airport security is no better than it ever was -- maybe worse. And it's run by a bunch of bureaucrats who's only goal is to grow the department and keep it around - forever. The no fly list violates every principle of law in this country. You can be put on it without your knowledge, you are guilty until proven innocent, and there doesn't appear to be any real appeal process in place to get off it. And if you are somehow cleared later on, there is no compensation offered for all the inconvenience suffered. Homeland security -- thanks for nothing.
Posted by vantive_guy on Tue, Feb 20, 2007 2:24 PM ET
9
Remember back before there was a Homeland Security department? The gripe back then was that the airlines hired private security firms on the cheap that were improperly trained. So along comes Homeland Security to the rescue. What do we have now? We have to take our shoes off and we can't carry a bottle of hair gel on the plane (unless it's less than 3 oz, as if that makes any difference). The airport security is no better than it ever was -- maybe worse. And it's run by a bunch of bureaucrats who's only goal is to grow the department and keep it around - forever. The no fly list violates every principle of law in this country. You can be put on it without your knowledge, you are guilty until proven innocent, and there doesn't appear to be any real appeal process in place to get off it. And if you are somehow cleared later on, there is no compensation offered for all the inconvenience suffered. Homeland security -- thanks for nothing.
Posted by vantive_guy on Tue, Feb 20, 2007 2:24 PM ET
10
Remember back before there was a Homeland Security department? The gripe back then was that the airlines hired private security firms on the cheap that were improperly trained. So along comes Homeland Security to the rescue. What do we have now? We have to take our shoes off and we can't carry a bottle of hair gel on the plane (unless it's less than 3 oz, as if that makes any difference). The airport security is no better than it ever was -- maybe worse. And it's run by a bunch of bureaucrats who's only goal is to grow the department and keep it around - forever. The no fly list violates every principle of law in this country. You can be put on it without your knowledge, you are guilty until proven innocent, and there doesn't appear to be any real appeal process in place to get off it. And if you are somehow cleared later on, there is no compensation offered for all the inconvenience suffered. Homeland security -- thanks for nothing.
Posted by vantive_guy on Tue, Feb 20, 2007 2:24 PM ET