Successfully flew without ID, but with intense search at ISP

Airport: Long Island Islip MacArthur (ISP)
Date: March 3, 2008
Reason given: Want to fly without ID, as a selectee
Reference: personal
Airline: Southwest
Result: Successful
Description: ISP is a small airport. When I told the ID checking TSA agent that I wanted to fly without ID as a selectee. He had directed me into a little gated area, then had to leave his post while everyone else waited and go get someone to help me. The man who took me really wasn't sure what to do, and asked me a few questions while looking at my carryon. Finally, the manager came over and asked me questions about why I wanted to fly without ID, in a rather adversarial tone. I told him that I believed it was my right to fly without my ID being checked by the federal government, and suddenly his tone changed and he seemed okay with it.
However, I then received the most horrendous SSSS search I have ever been through. Agents started yelling "selectee!" My various items were marked with red tape. Each item (carryon, backpack, camera, laptop) was investigated by a different agent, in the most tedious process I have seen. I was patted down and wanded by an agent in an extensive process. The wand picked up a gum wrapper in my pocket, and also my wallet. The agent insisted on putting my wallet through the metal detector. I told him that I wasn't comfortable being separated from my wallet, he walked away with it telling me to watch him while he walked back through the metal detector and put it through. I waited for the rest of my items to be screened, and then gathered them and went on my way.
This is by far the most extensive search and intense questioning I have been subjected to when traveling without ID.

Fly without ID to avoid compromising your immigration status

The TSA has been checking visas within passports as part of their ID check for domestic flights. If the see that the visa is no longer valid, they call immigration, at which point people have been detained and arrested. The TSA has confirmed this policy. They have also flagged people for flying with counterfeit or suspicious IDs, who have later been arrested.

Remember, you have the right to fly without showing your ID. If you are unsure that your travel papers are in order, it is better not to show them at all. You will be subject to an additional search, so carry nothing incriminating with you (always a good policy when traveling), but you also will have done nothing wrong.

Full detail about flying without ID are available at this blog, How to Fly without ID

You only need to provide your first initial and last name to fly

Right in with the recent news that the TSA wants to collect full names, birthdays and genders as part of secure flight is the indication that currently you only need to provide your first initial and last name.
Does this mean that the airline only passes on your first initial and last name to the TSA, or do they pass along your full name if you give it to them?
Either way, I assume this means that you are free to provide the airline with only your first initial and last name.
I have always given my full name to the airline, but that meant that when the TSA recorded my boarding pass information as I chose to fly without ID, they got to record my full name because it was on my boarding pass. Although I have an uncommon last name, I would really prefer to only give my first initial and last name, and leave off the chance of the TSA keeping records that identify me more fully. Not for any good reason, just that it freaks me out that the federal government is keeping records of my movements.
Even if the rule does go into effect, providing this additional information would be optional.

How to comment on Secure Flight

Secure flight is the plan whereby the TSA would approve each individual traveller for airplane travel, rather than the current system where the airlines check travellers against a watch list and no-fly list.

Written comments for secure flight must be received by November 21, 2007. Please leave a comment even if you don't think it will help. By my count there are only 291 comments as of today. There should be thousands...
Here's how to leave a comment.
1. Go to http://www.regulations.gov/
2. Scroll down to "Optional Step 4" in the search box. Select category "Docket ID" from the dropdown menu. Paste "TSA-2007-28572" into the adjacent text box. Leave everything else as is. Press submit.
3. To leave a comment, click on the callout image:. It is on the right hand side under "Comments
Add/Due By". To view other people's comments, click on the link under "Docket ID".

Here's the TSA's information about secure flight.
What is so bad about secure flight?
1. It violates your privacy. The government would be collecting and storing large quantities of information about you.
2. It violates your explicit rights to freedom of assembly because it requires prior permission for you to travel. It also interferes with your implicit right to movement.
3. It places an undue economic burden on airlines and would increase passenger delays.

A good overview of problems with secure flight is available here and here.

TSA rifles through wallet, confiscates ID

I have always wondered when flying as a selectee (declining to show ID) if the TSA might rifle through my wallet and find my ID for themselves. We know that we consent to a search of our belongings when we enter the security line, and that there is no option for refusal. While we have learned that the TSA may record things like the books we read, I have always assumed that the search itself must be reasonable. However, Dmitry Samarov reports that the TSA rifled through his wallet, examined his ID, found one that was fake (although very old), called the local law enforcement, and confiscated it. I have previously pointed out another case where TSA agents rifled through a wallet and asked a lot of questions. Our right to fly without presenting papers thus may be limited by the TSA rifling through our things to verify our identity. What are our rights when travelling?

Secure Flight update

YOU MAY LOSE THE RIGHT TO TRAVEL ON AIRPLANES WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY. Additional information about Secure Flight.

US demands air passengers ask its permission to fly | The Register: Under new rules proposed by the Transport Security Administration (TSA) , all airline passengers would need advance permission before flying into, through, or over the United States regardless of citizenship or the airline's national origin.
...
The new rules mean this information must be submitted 72 hours before departure. Only those given clearance will get a boarding pass. The TSA estimates that 90 to 93 per cent of all travel reservations are final by then.

The proposed rules require the following information for each passenger: full name, sex, date of birth, and redress number (assigned to passengers who use the Travel Redress Inquiry Program because they have been mistakenly placed on the no-fly list), and known traveller number (once there is a programme in place for registering known travellers whose backgrounds have been checked). Non-travellers entering secure areas, such as parents escorting children, will also need clearance.

The TSA held a public hearing in Washington DC on 20 September, which heard comments from both privacy advocates and airline industry representatives from Qantas, the Regional Airline Association, IATA, and the American Society of Travel Agents. The privacy advocates came from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Identity Project. All were negative.

The proposals should be withdrawn entirely, argued Edward Hasbrouck, author of The Practical Nomad and the leading expert on travel data privacy. "Obscured by the euphemistic language of 'screening' is the fact that travellers would be required to get permission before they can travel."

Hasbrouck submitted that requiring clearance in order to travel violates the US First Amendment right of assembly, the central claim in John Gilmore's case against the US government over the requirement to show photo ID for domestic travel.

In addition, the TSA is required to study the impact of the proposals on small economic entities (such as sole traders). Finally, the TSA provides no way for individuals to tell whether their government-issued ID is actually required by law, opening the way for rampant identity theft. ...

TSA now recording names of people who fly without ID

At Midway airport this past weekend, when I chose to fly without ID, the TSA agent took my boarding pass and wrote down the majority of information from the boarding pass (Name, flight into, destination, confirmation number) onto a form. I asked her what the form was, and if I could have a copy, and she basically indicated to me that it was not my business. (Note that no forms were filled out on my return trip through Philly.)

This brings up a number of rather important questions:
1. Is there a statute or rule that allows the TSA to routinely record traveler information, with or without an ID?
2. How long does the TSA store this information for, and what is it used for? Do travelers have a right to check the accuracy of the information, or to have it expunged?
3. Is this really a secret form that citizens are not allowed to have a copy of? If a traveler requests that information not be recorded will that traveler be denied passage?