What is the TSA No Fly List?

The "No-Fly" list has been an essential element of the aviation security – it keeps known terrorists off planes. TSA and our Federal partners, including the intelligence and law enforcement communities, have worked together to combine our collective knowledge into one list that protects our country, transportation systems, and airline passengers.

TSA has dedicated staff to review and scrub the existing No-Fly list and ensure all nominees meet the standing criteria. This review will establish the baseline for new records being added to the system and will significantly improve the quality of the data.

As recommended by the 9/11 Commission and mandated by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, TSA is taking steps to assume the watch list matching requirements from the airlines through the Secure Flight program. This new matching process will be more effective, efficient, and consistent for the traveling public, offering improvements in both security and customer service. Secure Flight is intended to:

  1. Identify suspected terrorists and subject them to enhanced scrutiny;
  2. Facilitate the travel of legitimate passengers; and
  3. Protect passengers' privacy and civil liberties.

TSA will be able to ensure that the appropriate privacy protections are embedded in the Secure Flight program and ensure that your personal information is properly safeguarded and shared only with those who have a need to know. This includes protection of personally identifiable information as well as completion of Privacy Impact Assessments so that only the minimum amount of information necessary to maintain transportation security is collected.

Additionally, Secure Flight will include redress mechanisms so that people who are concerned that they are on the list erroneously (sometimes because they have the same name as a known terrorist) can ask questions and potentially resolve false positive matches between their personal data and the watch lists. The Office of Transportation Security Redress will provide assistance for these individuals. For more information about the redress procedures, please visit our DHS TRIP page.

 
Back To Top