Air travelers mistaken for suspected terrorists get a break

WASHINGTON—Airlines are being allowed to save more of a traveler's personal information to help avoid mistaking that person for someone on a terrorist watchlist.

Air travelers are held up each day because their names are similar to names on a watchlist. But now airlines can create systems that store a person's birth date to verify that he or she is not the person on the list. The Transportation Security Administration announced the change Monday.

Passengers who are regularly confused with someone on the watchlist have to go to airline ticket counters to check in and aren't allowed to print their boarding passes at home or check in at automated kiosks.

TSA has two lists -- the no-fly list, which can keep a traveler from boarding a plane, and the "selectee list," which tags domestic airline passengers for extra searching and questioning at airports.

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On the Net:

http://www.tsa.gov/press/happenings/checkpoint--reduce--hassle.shtm