Secure Flight: how the TSA checks airline passengers against watch lists

What Secure Flight is and why it exists

Before Secure Flight, airlines checked their own passenger lists against government watch lists ². The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 told the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to take over that job for domestic flights and for international flights to, from and over the United States ¹. TSA issued the Secure Flight final rule on 28 October 2008 ¹. By November 2010, TSA had fully taken over watch list matching from airlines ².

Under the rule, TSA receives passenger details, runs the watch list check and sends a boarding pass printing result back to the airline ¹. The same rule set up a single DHS portal, so airlines send data for Secure Flight and for the CBP Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) through one channel ¹.

The program grew out of an older airline system. After a 1996 White House commission on aviation security, the Federal Aviation Administration created the Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS), which airlines ran inside their reservation systems ². TSA took over CAPPS when it was created in 2001 ².

Which flights and people are covered

A December 2025 TSA notice lists what the program covers. It includes passengers on covered domestic and international flights within, to, from or over the continental United States, and flights between two foreign points when a covered US airline operates them ³. It covers passengers of charter operators and aircraft lessors with a maximum takeoff weight over 12,500 pounds ³.

Secure Flight checks some people who are not flying too. Airlines and airports can ask TSA to let a non-traveller into the secure area, for example to escort a minor or a passenger with a disability ³. In the December 2025 notice, TSA said it would let non-travellers ask TSA directly and would issue them a visitor pass ³.

What data airlines send

The data set is called Secure Flight Passenger Data (SFPD). A 2015 DHS privacy notice lists it as full name, gender, date of birth, redress number or Known Traveler Number, passport information where relevant, reservation control number, record sequence number, record type, passenger update indicator, traveler reference number and itinerary ².

Under the 2008 rule, airlines may not accept a reservation without a full name, date of birth and gender ¹. Airlines must send the data they hold about 72 hours before the scheduled departure. For bookings made inside 72 hours, they send it as soon as it is available ¹.

TSA does not receive the full booking record for this check. In a January 2015 notice, DHS added airline CAPPS assessments to Secure Flight records. A CAPPS assessment is the airline's risk result built from passenger name record (PNR) data, and TSA receives the result, not the PNR itself ². DHS said a PNR can hold the passenger name, booking date, travel agent, itinerary, form of payment, flight number and seat ².

Watch list matching and boarding pass results

For Secure Flight, TSA defines the watch list as the No Fly and Selectee parts of the Terrorist Screening Database, kept by the Terrorist Screening Center ¹. For certain flights, TSA can use the larger set of federal watch lists when security conditions call for it ¹.

The result goes back to the airline as a boarding pass instruction. DHS describes outcomes such as selectee screening, a do not board instruction, or eligibility for TSA PreCheck lanes ². People with a Known Traveler Number from a government trusted traveller program can get expedited screening ². Other federal and non-federal bodies send TSA lists of low-risk people who qualify for PreCheck ³.

TSA runs a separate risk-based analysis on passengers who are not watch list matches. It uses the SFPD, the airline CAPPS assessment, frequent flyer codes and other prescreening data to decide on expedited, standard or extra screening ². DHS states that no one will be denied boarding or entry to the secure area based solely on this risk-based analysis ².

How long TSA keeps the data

The Secure Flight records system sets three retention periods based on the match result ². TSA stores the records at its Arlington, Virginia headquarters and at facilities in Annapolis Junction, Maryland, and Colorado Springs, Colorado. Records may sit at contractor facilities that work on the program ².

People can ask for their records in writing to the TSA Freedom of Information Act office under the Privacy Act. DHS says some information may be exempt from access ².

Redress through DHS TRIP

The DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (DHS TRIP) is the single point of contact for people who have problems with travel screening ⁴. It is open to people who were denied or delayed boarding, denied or delayed entry to or exit from the United States, or sent to secondary screening again and again ⁴. Applications go through an online form at trip.dhs.gov ⁴.

DHS TRIP gives each applicant a Redress Control Number. Travellers can use it to track the case and, once the case is closed, add it to airline bookings ⁴. DHS sends a final letter when all agencies have finished their review ⁴.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reviewed the process in 2014. It found that passengers cleared through redress go onto the TSA Cleared List, which almost always stops them being flagged again ⁵. It found that DHS TRIP cannot give redress to people misidentified against rules-based lists ⁵. GAO reported that appeals took about 276 days on average from 2011 to 2013, and that DHS cut its target for closing redress cases from 93 to 78 days in fiscal year 2014 ⁵.

Courts, critics and program changes

On 19 March 2024, the US Supreme Court ruled unanimously in FBI v. Fikre that the government had not shown that a No Fly List lawsuit was moot after it removed the plaintiff from the list ⁶. The court noted that by 2016 the government barred about 81,000 people from flying into, out of, within or over the United States, citing a brief from the American Civil Liberties Union and others ⁶. It said no statute or public regulation describes the standards for adding people to the list or removing them ⁶.

On 5 June 2025, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the end of Quiet Skies, a separate program that flagged travellers for extra screening and monitoring based on an algorithm ⁷. CNN reported that Quiet Skies was not linked to the FBI terrorist watch list and that other screening lists remain in use ⁷.