For the past few months, I've had the joy of matching a name on the TSA Terrorist Watch List. It's not me on the list, but apparently someone with the same first and last name.

It has been a total drag for someone who travels virtually every week. I could not check in online, nor at a kiosk, so have had to go to the ticket counter and check in with a qualified agent/supervisor (who is not always available). You can read the FT thread linked above for the whole saga.

While my first and last name apparently matched this person on the list, once the agent at the airport added my middle name and date of birth to the record, I was cleared to fly.

My research on the issue all pointed to the fact that once an airline became linked to the TSA's 'Secure Flight' system, which all domestic carriers were scheduled to be by spring of this year, my problem would go away. That system provides, in advance, that gender, date-of-birth and middle name info that we've been adding to our reservation records since some time last year.

Suddenly, at the beginning of this month, I tried as I did before every flight, to check in online -- and it worked. I also noticed, for the first time, that my boarding pass included the "API OK" in large type. I've been able to check in online for every flight since.

So I have concluded that US is using this information on their boarding pass not only for the international "Advanced Passenger Information" designation, if appropriate for an international itinerary, but also to indicate that the passenger has been cleared by "Secure Flight."

Agents at the airport were always very sympathetic to my situation, and told me that I was far from alone -- that they were processing multiple people like me every hour. In speaking to an agent a few days ago, she told me that once the "API OK" started appearing on boarding passes, the incorrect selectees like me that were coming to the counter, dropped by 90+ percent.

I'll speak for all of us -- we LOVE the "API OK."