Make sure to wear warm clothes. It's cold in Bangor in February.

RoboBR: I too am British with a PR card and wound up on some sort of list for a couple of weeks last year. It was all very annoying and because I am fairly vocal about my feelings regarding the whole war on terror - patriot act - security situation, would not have been able to extricate myself from this pickle without help. At one point I was told that there was no such thing as a No Fly List by the TSA.

I got lucky though, a British manager at UA sorted things out for me prior to a flight. I believe she spent a lot of time on the phone with UA security and the powers that be to get me off the non-existent list. I hope you are also able to sort this out. You might ask to see if the airline station manager can do something to assist you if there are routes you fly regularly.

You are joking,.............aren't you?

:confused:

The morons at DHS have so far diverted to Bangor 2 flights from Europe bound for the US (and not Bangor). There's always the possibility they'll do it again.
:mad:

Other than that, yes, a mild poking of fun.

TSA list
 

I am part way through getting my placement on the list resolved. I am sure there is no reason for me to be on the list, but I have a common name and assume that someone else with my name is the valid listee. I cannot check in on line, nor at the kiosks; when I go to the counter they make a call, they won't say to who, and give my name and birthdate, then I am cleared.

The TSA ombudsman is at 571 227 2383. They also have an 800 number, but you will have to look it up on their website as I have forgotten it. When you call, all they do is take your name and address to send you a form; don't expect a resolution from the clerk manning the phone. When they sent me the form, the cover letter acknowledged that they maintain a No Fly List, and a separate Selectee List (people allowed to fly but subject to enhanced screening).

I think the advice to call or write congresscritters is misplaced. In the first place, the congresscritter never sees your letter; it goes to an aide who forwards it to the appropriate agency, but not to the level where the work is being done. When the agency receives the congresscritter's letter, all work on your case is stopped while they run around trying to give an answer to the congresscritter; the answer invariably just gives the status of your case. After they send the letter to the congresscritter your case goes back to where it was; almost never is there any expediting done, other than getting the letter to the congresscritter. The result is that there is always a delay involved when you involve any politician, unless, of course, it is a relative.

I'm not really upset about the heightened security. We are, not of our own volition, at war with terrorism. Much of what is being done is more appropriately classed as intelligence gathering, rather than criminal prosecution. They can't prosecute someone until they have done the crime, or at least engaged in a conspiracy, so we are going to have to learn to live in a country where intelligence gathering is a continuing thing. As long as religious fanatics are willing to engage in terrorism (and I don't limit this to the religion of Islam), we will have to endure this unpleasantness.

Thanks Cleveland Brown for your help, every time I fly I go through what you described in your second paragraph. Do you think I will have a problem flying internationally? as I have a trip to the Netherlands in February. I e-mailed the TSA omsbudman at the DHS yesterday and if I don't see a reply from them in a week of so I will call the number you've provided.

What sort of information have you had to provide in this process of getting your name removed from the list? I ask so I can get a head start on getting it together.

Thanks again

Dave in N.C.

My last international flight was before they started sharing this list with the airlines. The only hint I had was that when I returned stateside I was always taken to a separate office at immigration. I sat around trying not to look guilty, and eventually they asked me where I had been, then let me through.

My airline didn't do international checkin on line or at the kiosks, but at the counter I never had a problem. I would anticipate that on my next international flight, they will have to make the call to get me cleared.

When this refusal to allow online checkin happened the second time I realized I had a problem, and the airline gave the the email address ot the TSA ombudsman. I emailed them but never received a response. Only when I made the call did I get a response, and that was they would send me a letter, but it would take about two weeks to arrive; it took three. You fill out a form that just has identification information, but you must send it back accompanied by three documents from a list they attach. I recall one was a certified copy (not a reproduction) of your birth certificate (I didn't want to send my only copy of this valuable ancient document and it takes too long to get another certified copy). Others were notarized copies of your passport, your visa (I don't think they meant credit card), your driver's license, a military id card, a voter registration card, and some others I have forgotten.

I had some trouble getting notarized documents because the notary public at my bank refused to notarize federal or state documents. I went home, looked up the law and realized he was wrong, and went to another bank where they notarized them.

I am confident that this is going to take a long long time, so I wrote my airline today asking that they ascertain that I am not the person on the TSA list, then change the name on my account to some variant of my actual name that will distinguish me from the guy on the list. I don't really like my middle name, nor being 111, but if having that on an airline ticket will solve this problem I'll live with it. Interestingly, when I emailed the airline asking this correction to an account I opened on line, they responded that they could only change the name if I made a written request, accompanied by documentation of my name. Apparently they are concerned the I would somehow transfer my worthless FF miles to someone else.

Incidentally, the TSA ombudsman can be reached at Phone: 1-866-289-9673 toll-free.

I am not sure if the story is true, but some seemingly wealthy person found himself suddenly on the no fly list.

He tried the usual approach with no success. And every time he had to fly, found himself at the airport long before his flight was due in order to get time to be cleared. In the end, fed up with the all procedure he tried another trick:

He inquired for the price of a private jet, chose a nice Gulfstream, calculated all the running costs for a year, had himself a pro forma invoice made and sent it to the TSA or whatever. Within a very short time he got a result. They wanted more information on that invoice: He got the lawyer of his company to answer, giving them a ten day notice to pay threatening a lawsuit for loss of revenue and so on.

He got close attention and within a week, the man had no problem checking in at any airline...

good news, I hope
 

I got my clearance letter from TSA today, far sooner than I had anticipated, considering that they never responded to my initial email, and the clerk when I called advised me (accurately) that they would send me a form to complete, but it would take two weeks to get here. It took them a bit over a month to issue the clearance letter, from the time I mailed the form and evidence. That's a pretty good response time for any federal agency to get something done.

I faxed a copy of the letter to Continental today; when I called, they seemed to feel it wouldn't take long for them to get me cleared, but the jury is still out on that.

There are some who might consider Ted Kennedy a terrorist. :D

So what happened to RoboBR?

Ok...rather than type this out for the third time (I started two other threads in other forums):

I'm on the "list"...oh joy!

I have problems flying and now have the paperwork from the TSA to help get me "expedited through security".

What I want to know is....does filling out this paperwork actually get you off the list?? Does it enable you to check-in online again and do the airlines not have to call the TSA everytime you fly?

Thanks,
-RM
PS - I fly over 100,000 a year and only wound up on this list as of fall '04. I had been flying a ton before that with no issue.

Fellow no-fly
 

I too am a no-fly list member. Usually, I just show up at the airport and they check my birthdate, press a few keys and I get a boarding pass. Dealing with customs makes it much more difficult. Recently they took me into a "special room," asked me "what was the purpose of my visit was" (as if a terrorist would say "terrorism") and "have you ever lived in the UK?" Then they stamped my passport.

In reading forums and reports on the web and even the TSA's own website, it sounds like filling out their forms does not, in fact, take you off the no-fly list...

The ACLU has filed a class action law suit for people like us. The link to the story is below. If you are like me, the stories of the named plaintiffs will sound very familiar. You can fill out a complaint form on the ACLU's website as well.

Who knows how much stuff like this helps, but it all adds to the momentum of getting this silly policy adjusted. Stopping us to double check our birthdate doesn't make the country safer. In fact it only clogs the security system with a lot of noise. Meanwhile the truly bad guys can simply change their identity and name to not be on the watch list and slip through the cracks.

Here is the link:

Class Action