HT: Slashdot

The Register (UK) reports that the Transporation Security Agency (TSA) is proposing new rules that would force airlines to submit passenger manifests 72 hours in advance so that the TSA can check them out. Currently passenger manifests are required only 15 minutes in advance. If a passenger isn’t on a manifest, they are not allowed on the plane.

The new rules mean this information must be submitted 72 hours before departure. Only those given clearance will get a boarding pass. The TSA estimates that 90 to 93 per cent of all travel reservations are final by then.

The proposed rules require the following information for each passenger: full name, sex, date of birth, and redress number (assigned to passengers who use the Travel Redress Inquiry Program because they have been mistakenly placed on the no-fly list), and known traveller number (once there is a programme in place for registering known travellers whose backgrounds have been checked). Non-travellers entering secure areas, such as parents escorting children, will also need clearance.

I cannot tell you how many times I have boarded a plane less than 72 hours after I arranged it. Often I get to leave a location early because I get my job done. Other times, I find out that I can stay the weekend home.

What happens when someone misses a connection? Do they have to wait three days for permission to take a connection flight to their destination? That’ll be a nice boost to the hotel airport business.

If the TSA needed more time, I would say 4 hours, max. That’s still 16 times longer than what they’ve had now. Three days is insane. This needs to get spiked.