Should I be worried?
 

Hi, not a frequent flyer at all, but I thought who better to ask....

Anyway, I actually have not flown since before 9/11 and now I am finally going on vacation. Now I am worried - what happens if I were to be on the Do Not Fly List.

The thing is I bought a new car a few months back and paid cash for it. A few days later, I got a letter from the Car Dealer telling me that they had to inform the Office of Homeland Security of this transaction.

I have put all this money into airfare, theater tickets, etc., and ????

Should I be worried or am I just being paranoid?

You shouldn't have anything to worry about. Large cash transactions are required to be reported in the interests of stopping money laundering. Although many of us disagree with the way the current legal system treats cash, it's not something that should land you on any of the various lists.

almost any cash transaction of $10k or over will flag you (IRS, DHS etc.. ) but
you won't be placed on a no fly list by default.

Welcome to Flyertalk. I wouldnt be too worried. As pointed out, the car transaction has been that way for a long time. It was originally because of drug dealers if I recall correctly. They were trying to find out who was paying out lots of cash but not having income hence possible drug dealer and tax evader. We paid cash for a car a few years back and they also had to report it. Nothing came from it since it was not out of line with our reported income.

Try to check in for your flight online on your airline's Web site the day before you fly. If you can do it successfully, you'll know that you're good to go. I doubt that buying a car is going to be a problem for you.