I’m getting mixed messages from the Department of Homeland Security. Last year I was placed on the No-Fly Watch List which made traveling a real hassle, mainly because I was not able to print my boarding pass from home for several months. You can read No-Fly Watch List: Parts 1-10 for greater detail.

Shortly after I discovered my status on the No Fly Watch List, I filed my paperwork with the Department of Homeland Security’s Traveler Redress Inquiry Program. A month or two later, I received a redress number and was able to print my boarding pass from home. Traveling resumed pretty much to normal. In fact, it kind of became easier.

Last November I was traveling to Albuquerque for a conference on a Southwest travel voucher. Because it was a voucher, I had to go to the airline counter to get my boarding pass.

“Here you go,” the nice lady said to me as she handed me my boarding pass.

I was in line at security when I noticed my last name was spelled wrong on the boarding pass. My name gets misspelled with some regularity. Khan becomes Kahn, which I’ve also written about on this blog. See Mistaken Identity. Oh great, I thought to myself. I’ll probably get held up in security because the spelling doesn’t match my identification.

It's Khan, not Kahn.

I didn’t have time to go back to the counter so I chanced it. And they waved me through. Hmmm, I thought to myself. Have I advanced from the No Fly Watch List to the Go Ahead and Fly Even if Your Name on Your Boarding Pass Doesn’t Match Your ID?

Yesterday, I checked in for a flight and it seems the Department of Homeland Security and the TSA are trying to get their act back together because this time, I got a new message.

“Please enter the redress number for Surina Ms. Khan, if available. We have all other required information.”

Good thing I got that redress number, because I entered it and I was able to print my boarding pass, even though I was confused by the new name they gave me. Surina Ms. Khan. Usually I go by Ms. Surina Khan. At least they spelled my last name right.

The mail came early this morning. “Looks like I got a response from the Department of Homeland Security,” I told Jenny as I opened the envelope.

I had submitted a Traveler Redress Inquiry Form to the Department of Homeland Security’s Traveler Redress Inquiry Program back in February when I learned I had been placed on the No-Fly Watch List. (See No Fly Watch List: Part 3, posted February 15, 2010).

For most of February and March, traveling was a hassle. I couldn’t print my boarding pass in advance. I waited in lines at the airport while the airline staff completed the No-Fly Watch List paperwork. I’d often get stopped for extra screening. I generally tried to have a good attitude about it, but flying as often as I do, I needed a long-term solution so I filed my paperwork with the Department of Homeland Security to try to get my name off the list. Sometime around late March I was able to print my boarding pass from home, which made me think the system was working. I filed my paperwork, and I am off the list. Hooray. But according to the letter I received, that may or may not be the case.

“What does the letter say?” Jenny asked.

“It says they have researched and completed review of my case.”

And then the letter goes on to say, “Security procedures and legal concerns mandate that we can neither confirm nor deny any information about you which may be within federal watchlists or reveal any law enforcement sensitive information.” That is so not helpful.

They also suggest I provide my redress control number when booking travel. “This information will assist new technologies being introduced in 2009-10 to help prevent misidentifications.”

And after all these not so helpful explanations, the letter concludes, “Despite these positive efforts, we cannot ensure your travel will be delay-free.” Thanks a lot.

I can only hope that the Department of Homeland Security may or may not have communicated this information to the Transportation Security Administration because for the past couple of months I have been able to print boarding passes out in advance and breeze through security. Have I triggered a new watch list status? Or did filing my paperwork actually help? Hard to tell.

I think I am off the No-Fly Watch List. The last two trips I took were like the good old days. Print boarding pass at home, breeze through security without any additional screening.

Now I am back to focusing on the regular inconveniences of airline travel. Like the drunk man that was removed from the plane before we took off. Or the television screen that kept cutting out because it was “searching for a signal.” Or the very large man that sat  in the middle seat next to me on the seven hour flight home from New York. To be fair, the large man did not cause me the kind of discomfort I anticipated when I saw him trying to get in his seat. He kept his arms to himself and generously passed me my Diet Coke and Terra Blue chips when the JetBlue staff was passing out snacks and beverages.

After we landed, our other fellow passenger in the aisle seat on the other side of the large man said to him, “You were really good on this flight. You didn’t need to get up once. You must have a lot of patience.” To which the large man replied, “I grew up with four older sisters.” Now that makes sense. I grew up with three older sisters and I am also very patient.

When I was in New York I had several meetings with various Foundations. New York office buildings have high security but I didn’t have any problems getting into the buildings after I showed my identification and they cross-checked my name to make sure I was on the list. The last day of my trip I had a meeting with the President of a large Foundation. We only had half an hour together and I wanted to be sure I was on time for the meeting. I arrived at the building about ten minutes early thinking that would give me plenty of time to get checked in with security and get upstairs.

“You’re not on the list,” the security guard said.

“But I have a meeting,” I responded.

“Your not on the list. You’ll have to call upstairs and ask them to fax me an email.” Fax an email? I was starting to get confused.

“I have to call upstairs?” I asked. This, too, seemed odd. By this point in the trip I had been to several high security buildings and usually the security people call upstairs to verify the visitor’s name. “Can you call upstairs?” I asked.

“No,” he responded. “You have to call.” I wasn’t sure what good it would do for me to be on the phone with the receptionist. But I went ahead and called upstairs.

“Hello, this is Surina Khan, I have an appointment with your President at 10:30 and I’m having a little trouble getting upstairs. Security says I am not on the list and they say you need to send an email.”

“I’m so sorry for this inconvenience,” the receptionist said. “I’ll email them right now.” Five minutes passed. And I called again. “I sent them the email five minutes ago,” she said.

“She sent the email five minutes ago,” I said to the security guard.

“I don’t have it yet,” he said. “When the email comes they will bring me the fax,” he said cryptically. Did he not know the difference between an email and a fax?

“Well, I’ve got her on the phone, can you just speak to her by phone?” I asked.

“No,” he said. “That’s not how the system works.”

Another five minutes passed and someone from the Foundation had to come down and get me. I finally got upstairs with only about fifteen minutes left in the half hour time we had allotted. I happen to know this Foundation president reads my blog from time to time, or at least my Facebook status updates, and he knows about the trouble I have been having with the No-Fly Watch List.

“You and security again. Racial profiling?” he asked with a knowing smile.

“I know,” I said. “I may have to blog about it.” Now that I seem not to be on the No-Fly Watch List any longer, I’m realizing that some security lists are important to be on.

I’ve started using my middle name when booking travel, and it seems to be helping when it comes to printing my boarding pass. Earlier this week, I was able to print my boarding pass from home for my flight to San Jose. I didn’t want to get too excited, it could have just been a glitch. I was flying a different airline from a different airport.  I flew Southwest  rather than my preferred airline, JetBlue, since I had to get to Santa Cruz, and JetBlue does not fly to San Jose (the closest airport to Santa Cruz), or at least not when I needed to go. This also means I flew out of Orange County instead of Long Beach, so I had an all around new No-Fly Watch List experience.

From Santa Cruz I drove to San Francisco to work out of the office for a day. When I tried to print my boarding pass for my flight home from SFO, it worked! Except for the minor detail that I was in my hotel room and did not have a printer, but I am confident that it will work when I get to the office. Could this mean I am no longer on the No-Fly Watch List? I hope so, although I was just starting to get used to the inconvenience. Plus my sister and her husband, a retired US Army Colonel, sent me an article, “Behind the Scenes: Crafting the US No-Fly Watch List,” and after reading it I was beginning to feel all important.

I am (or maybe now I can say was) among only two percent of people on the list who are US citizens. And I am (or was) one of 418,000 people in the Terrorist Screening Database and only one of 18,000 people selected for extra screening. This seems like an elite club of sorts. 18,000 people is not that many in the scheme of things. I was never denied a boarding pass or kept from flying which means I am not actually one of the 6,000 people on the No-Fly List. These people are not allowed to board planes. They are the super elite in the No-Fly Watch List community. Kind of like reverse Platinum Status.

Everything was looking good until I tried to plan ahead for my Spring travel. I may be able to print boarding passes, but I cannot seem to book flights anymore. Now why didn’t they think of this sooner? Forget about the No-Fly Watch List. If you’re on the list, they should just cut you off before the boarding pass and not even let you book a flight.  The No-Book Flight List.

I kept getting an error message when I tried booking my flight. When I called JetBlue to speak to an operator, she said, “I’ll have to charge you $15 to book it over the phone.”

“Umm, excuse me?” This was not going to work for me. “Since I can’t book it on the website, can you waive the fee?” I thought this was a reasonable request.

“No,” she said. “We haven’t had any complaints about the website.”I guess my problem did not rank as complaint status.

“So can you tell me what I’m supposed to do? You’re website doesn’t let me book the flight, so you’re going to charge me extra to do it over the phone?” I needed to speak to her leader. When I got the leader on the phone she was finally able to help me, but it sure did take a while.

Did I say JetBlue was my preferred airline? I may need to update that status.

When I tried to print my boarding pass from home for this week’s episode of the No-Fly Watch List, I got the familiar red X notifying me that I needed to see a ticket agent at the full-service counter at the airport.

I got to the airport and was pleasantly surprised to find that I was not the only person in line on the No-Fly Watch List. I overheard the man ahead of me talking to the ticket agent. “It’s ridiculous,” he said sounding really irritable. “My name is Steven Smith, there’s no reason for me to be on the list. Smith is a common name.”

I knew exactly how he felt. Khan is a very common name too. Just because our names our common, does not mean we should be on the No-Fly Watch List.

Steven looked like a nice enough guy. Like he could be from the Midwest. Pink complexion, a bit of a paunch, slightly balding, gold-rimmed eyeglasses. But he had a bad attitude. He was huffing and puffing, clearly not happy about his status on the No-Fly Watch List. I could relate. Good-natured as I’m trying to be about this whole thing, let’s face it. It’s a drag to be on the No-Fly Watch List. But my philosophy is, if you have to be on the No-Fly Watch List, you might as well try and have a good attitude.

I felt like giving Steven a tip or two. “Steven,” I wanted to say to him, “it doesn’t help to get upset with the ticket agent. They didn’t put you on the list, and they can’t take you off it.” I was starting to feel sorry for the ticket agent. The poor guy had to deal with Steven’s misguided anger as well as the rest of us who were getting impatient in the line since Steven was taking so long to get checked in. The ticket agent was just doing his job, filling out the No-Fly Watch List Clearance form with his blue ball point Bic pen as fast as he could. But, I know from experience, it can take a good five minutes to fill out this form, and then you have to get one of your colleagues to witness it and sign off and that can take another minute or two. Jenny calls this “Dilbert’s Guide to National Security.”

I could sense the ticket agent’s increasing anxiety as he kept looking up at the line growing longer and longer. The people in line behind me were getting agitated.

For instance, the guy behind me started sighing audibly. “My flight leaves at 11am!” he shouted at no one. “Am I going to make it?” I know he was trying to cut in front of me. When I got up to the counter I led with, “I’m on the No-Fly Watch List too.” I thought this might expedite things. But by now the ticket agent was flustered. He filled out my paperwork as fast as he could and gave me my boarding pass and told me to go to Gate 3. “Thank you,” I said, “but can I have my license back?” He forgot he still had it. Good thing I was paying attention.

I’m beginning to think they should add an additional line at the airport. In addition to the bag drop line, and the full-service counter line, they should add a No-Fly Watch List line. This way, those of us on the list wont slow other passengers down.

The line at security was long too. Even though the Long Beach airport is tiny, it’s become a popular airport. The man in front of me in the security line was basically efficient. He emptied all his pockets, took his shoes and coat off, but he forgot to take off his belt. So he beeped going through the scanner, backed-up, and removed his belt. Then he forgot to collect his belt once he got through the scanner to the other side. The best part about this little mishap was the announcement that followed over the loudspeakers. “Attention passengers. If you do not have a belt, please return to the security area.” This made me giggle.

I thought it was fairly obvious that the man on the loudspeaker meant to say, “if you left your belt behind, please return to the security area.” So I was surprised when an older woman standing nearby looked all confused, “I don’t have a belt,” she said. “Do I need to go back to the security area? My flight is boarding.”

Before I was on the No-Fly Watch list I didn’t pay attention to all these airport details. Now traveling is comical. I wanted to take a picture to remember this experience, so I took this photo as I was boarding the plane. Plus, I needed a visual for this blog.

 

It occurred to me that I probably should not be taking pictures of the plane given my designation on the No-Fly Watch List. It’s possible that I breached some kind of security protocol. But I was discreet.  I probably looked like I was just checking email on my iPhone. When I was on the plane, I got bored. So I started gazing out the window, and the clouds looked so pretty I decided to snap another photo which I posted on Facebook after we landed. I captioned the photo  “flying the friendly skies” which I thought was a display of a very positive attitude.

My friend Shauna commented on my Facebook post. “Oh, great.” she wrote. “They’re going to see this picture and think you’re taking covert shots of the engine…you are never getting off that No Fly Watch List.”

That’s the engine? I always thought those were the propellers, or is that the same thing as an engine?

I filed my paperwork with the Department of Homeland Security’s Traveler Redress Inquiry Identity Program last week, asking to have my name removed from the No-Fly Watch List. They immediately gave me a Redress Control Number: 2087710. I hope this does not mean that there are two million, eighty-seven thousand, seven hundred and nine people ahead of me.

A few hours after I filed the paperwork electronically and via the US Postal Service, including a copy of my US passport, I thought to myself, “Oh heck, why not try and print my boarding pass for my flight to San Francisco in the morning?” And to my great surprise, I was able to print my boarding pass from home. Did the Department of Homeland Security really move that fast?

Maybe, I thought, being good-natured about being on the No-Fly Watch List brought me good karma? I mean, I haven’t really complained or lost my cool with any of the TSA staff, and I’m considering putting one of these stickers on my luggage.

Two days later, I was getting ready to fly home from San Francisco. I didn’t have time to print my boarding pass in advance so I went to the Self Check-In Kiosk at the airport, and got to the very last step of printing my boarding pass. And then I saw the familiar error message telling me to see a ticket agent. Rats. I knew it was too good to be true.

The JetBlue staff, as friendly as ever, tried to appease me again as they filled out the necessary paperwork. “I’m on the No-Fly Watch List too,” said one of the ticket agents. “And I have all these badges and security clearances,” he said pointing to the multiple laminated identity cards hanging from his neck.

My friend Tarso is an expert on all things related to racial profiling, so when he heard I was on the No-Fly Watch List, he said, “I think they’re going after all the Khans. I heard Chaka is having the same problem and even Herbie Hancock, apparently for that ‘Chaka Khan’ remix of Prince’s ‘I feel for you.’ Bollywood star Aamir Khan is in the same boat too.”  Well, that’s a relief.

The first time I flew by myself I was eight years old. My mother put me on a PIA flight from Karachi to JFK. By myself. It was like immersion for young travelers. But it paid off. Years later, here I am, the efficient well-seasoned traveler. By the way, PIA stands for Pakistan International Airlines, but in my family we called it, Perhaps I’ll Arrive.

I’m not sure why my mother could not accompany me back to the US. She and I had taken a trip back to Pakistan when we were finally able to travel back. I guess it must have been 1975 or so. I think we arrived on Christmas Day and by now I had begun my process of Americanization.  I remember saying to my mother when we got off the plane in the warm Karachi winter, “This is my first green Christmas.”

I was fondly remembering these early travel experiences as my shuttle pulled up to the Sacramento airport this evening. Feeling sorry for those younger than me who are on the No-Fly Watch List. They probably don’t remember the days when you didn’t have the option to print a boarding pass at home, or go to a self check-in kiosk. Back in the day, we had paper tickets and always had to stand in line at the counter to get a boarding pass. So I thought, well, I’ve done this before. What’s the big deal?

I gave myself plenty of time to check-in at the counter and  be patted down by security. The nice JetBlue staff tried to make me feel better. “It’s not you who’s on the No-Fly Watch List. It’s your name.”

I thought this was sweet, but how did they know it was not me? And if they knew it was not me, why was I on the list?

“How do you know it’s not me?” I asked. As soon as these words came out of my mouth, I thought, well that’s a stupid thing to ask, now they will think it is me who is supposed to be on the list.

JetBlue flight 265 to Long Beach is ready for boarding. I better gather my things and prepare to be patted down again before I board the flight.