Flight Passenger Info Should Be Given In Advance

Posted by Bridget Lux Sep 4, 2006

Michael Chertoff, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security in the U.S., has proposed giving the American authorities passenger information before an airplane takes off bound for the U.S. Apparently, the same information is given 15 minutes after departure and has caused some planes to return to their takeoff location due to red-flagged passengers.

So, on a recent cross-Atlantic trip, with plenty of time on my hands standing in line to have my meager carry-on possessions X-rayed once again, I got to thinking about this. Who is opposing this? The very small percentage of people who are going to be red-flagged? No, too few people with very little pull. The other governments? No. It's the airlines. And why? Because they are concerned with their passengers who show up at the last minute and might not be able to board because of the earlier passenger list.

To these people, I say, get a watch. Seriously. I'm tired of having to wait on people who just can't seem to make it on time. It's one of the things I admire about flights: They wait for no one. OK, maybe the pilot or something, but that I can accept.

Now, I have sympathy for those whose connections are made tighter by late planes and such, but those people would just have to be checked wherever their flight originated. Flying from Nice to London to Houston, for example? The passenger should be checked in Nice, making the London connection a non-issue. I also have sympathy for people who have extraordinary circumstances that prohibit them from getting to the airport on time. But let's face it, the majority are people who just can't seem to get anywhere on time. To these people, I say, too bad. They miss a flight or two and maybe they'll start showing up when the airlines suggest rather than at their own pace.

Am I being a bit harsh? No, I don't think so. Take a minute to visualize how you would feel being on one of those planes that was turned around because of a red-flagged passenger. Anyone who follows the rules and gets to the airport on time should be wholeheartedly supporting this measure. And the same should go for other countries. The U.S. should be giving them passenger information before flights take off. Sometimes, it seems we make things more difficult than they really need to be.