Hawaii-based Airlines - HA requiring gender, DOB on new bookings / flights >=Dec 1, 2009

Different airlines are handling the TSA Secure Flight rules differently - AA is not requiring, but voluntarily asking, for DOB and gender; HA will begin collecting new information from fliers, according to an e-mail sent today (Aug 21 2009), posted here in part for those who are not Hawaiian FFs or do not receive their e-mails:




Important TSA update for Hawaiian Airlines passengers

Aloha,

Beginning with flights on or after December 1, 2009, airlines must comply with the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) Secure Flight rules to collect required information from passengers. In response to the TSA mandate, Hawaiian Airlines has developed a solution that enables you to enjoy faster booking and hassle-free travel every time you fly us. We ask that you read the following information to learn more.

New requirement from the TSA

Reservations booked on or after August 12, 2009 that include flights on or after December 1, 2009 require the following for each passenger in order to make a reservation:

• Full Name (first, middle, and last name must match the government-issued photo ID you bring to the airport)
• Gender
• Date of Birth

If you've booked prior to August 12, 2009, you don't need to do anything."

(My underscores, for new data items required.

(More from the HA Secure Flight FAQs = link (http://www.tsa.gov/what_we_do/layers/secureflight/faqs.shtm#traveler_faqs))

Anyone else have trouble inserting a middle name in the "Change Contact Info" section so they can update the information as per the TSA requirements? I currently have simply a single middle initial listed in the account info; my government-issued ID has two full middle names.

The HA website won't let me modify the existing middle initial to include the full middle names. Interestingly enough, I *can* update my husband's full middle name through the "update your travel companion" link--I just can't do my own.

I've e-mailed HA Miles, but wondered if my problem is because I'm doing this wrong...

Should be fun with all the 25+ character hawaiian middle names.

Anyone else have trouble inserting a middle name in the "Change Contact Info" section so they can update the information as per the TSA requirements? I currently have simply a single middle initial listed in the account info; my government-issued ID has two full middle names.

The HA website won't let me modify the existing middle initial to include the full middle names. Interestingly enough, I *can* update my husband's full middle name through the "update your travel companion" link--I just can't do my own.

I've e-mailed HA Miles, but wondered if my problem is because I'm doing this wrong...
I think a temporary fix would be to add yourself as a traveler to your account. I've got the same issue, middle initial on the account rather than middle name, and it's not changeable on the website.

As for AA not requiring DOB and gender (but voluntarily requesting), it would appear that once SecureFlight is fully implemented, AA will have to do so. Looks like HA is just implementing all the SecureFlight requirements at once:

http://www.tsa.gov/what_we_do/layers/secureflight/

Should be fun with all the 25+ character hawaiian middle names.

See my post **here** (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alaska-airlines-mileage-plan/986637-secure-flight-vs-mp.html#11) from another forum for a possible workaround.

What most people don't realize is that the "name" field in the PNR and the SecureFlight fields are seperate fields and need not be the same.

Should be fun with all the 25+ character hawaiian middle names.

Indeed.

A birth announcement from this week's local newspaper:

Caysen Kalawai'anoeaumekapomaika'iokeakuaho'olakoaloha Akamine

Indeed.

A birth announcement from this week's local newspaper:
The poor child. Just imagine the hand strength needed to fill in all those bubbles on the PSAT/SATs and any other standardized test to be taken!

How true!

At least this gentleman, whose obituary was in the local paper, may he rest in peace, won't have to deal with the new rules:

Lawrence "Larry" "Yaya" Kapuananimakamaeilokookeaopolohiwaonalaniipukamaii kamalamalama Baker Mattos

Should be fun with all the 25+ character hawaiian middle names.

Well, I think I'd change my DL to an initial because whatever is on the ID is what needs to be on the ticket, as I understand it.

Indeed.

A birth announcement from this week's local newspaper:

Caysen Kalawai'anoeaumekapomaika'iokeakuaho'olakoaloha Akamine



As far as I know, the machine readable zone of a passport as a limitation of 37 characters (includes LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME, MIDDLE NAME, +spaces between first and middle names), or 44 characters including the "passport" code and "Nationality" code with seperators:



P<USAAKAMINE<<CAYSSEN<KALAWAIANOEAUMEKAPOMAI



Out of curiousity, I tried entering the above mentioned name into a computer reservation system and it works (BUT THE NAME GETS CUT OFF AT THE END)!



1.1AKAMINE/CAYSSEN KALAWAIANOEAUMEKAPOMAIKAIOKEAKUAHOOLAKOALO
1 HA 2Y 19DEC 6 HNLLAX SS1 1355 2115 /DCHA /E



However, when trying to enter the name for TSA SecureFlight purposes, I get the following error:



>3DOCS/DB/08AUG2009/M/AKAMINE/CAYSSEN/KALAWAIANOEAUMEKAPOMAIKAIOKEAKUAHOOLAKOALOHA
¥VERIFY MIDDLE NAME - INPUT FIRST 30 CHARS¥



By entering the first 30 characters I get:



GENERAL FACTS
1.SSR DOCS HA HK1/DB/08AUG2009/M/AKAMINE/CAYSSEN/KALAWAIANOEA
UMEKAPOMAIKAIOKEAK



However, when trying to issue a boarding pass, I will assume that only the following will print (there is an 18 character limitation for most boarding pass printers):



AKAMINE/CAYSSENKALA

I received an e-mail telling me that all account name changes needed to be taken care of with a phone call to Hawaiian Miles. I called the service center (877/426-4537), and after pushing the right numbers to get to "change your account info" (it was 4 then 1, with your account number at the prompt then a bit of a hold time), I was connected to one person (in the Philippines, I believe) then transferred to another (this one in Hawaii--I asked).

This last was a very friendly rep who told me they had *lots* of calls asking to do the same thing (match up the government-issued ID name with the name on the account). She asked a few questions to verify my ID and then made the change. She said I'd be receiving a new HA Miles card reflecting the change in the next few weeks. I just checked my member account online and it's now updated. Total time on the phone (4:10 pm, Hawaiian time) was 7 minutes, 48 seconds.

Thanks to daniellam for his very detailed post on another workaround (his post also helped me to understand the whole SSR Docs thing better)--I just wanted to avoid always calling after a reservation (what if I forgot and TSA didn't want to let me get on that plane to Hawaii--there would be a real tantrum then!). I'd had recent issues changing my ID recently and I didn't want to go to the DMV again...so having HA change *their* records fit my needs better.

Thanks, all.