Originally Posted by
star_world
It's more complicated than that. If you are entering the US from an international flight your details from your ticket (and passport) are scanned. This data is uploaded to a DHS database.
When you arrive in the US, the CBP agent that admits you has a list of incoming passengers that day. They certainly will be able to see if the passport you hand them matches the name on their list.
It's more than just a requirement from the TSA.
Not my experience at all.
My ticket name never matches my ID, because I have a long name and it does not fit on a ticket. The same is true for most of my family members, and we use a combination of abbreviations, omissions and nicknames among us. We have never had any problem whatsoever with immigration, but the TSA agents have given us warnings and even secondaries because of the mismatch.
More surprisingly, although I am watch-listed and constantly SSSSed by the TSA, I have never had any troubles at all with immigration. Immigration seems to me to use much more common sense than the TSA, ignoring the ridiculous watch list and understanding that people are going to continue to have name mismatches, no matter how hard you try to get the whole world to make reservations match ID exactly.