Background checks and Credit checks before you fly? I can see it now LADIES AND GENTLEMAN THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN MICHAEL GREEN SPEAKING I WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU FOR FLYING THE FRIENDLY SKIES WITH DELTA TODAY. WE WILL BE CRUISING AT AN ALTITUDE OF 40,000 FEET AND WILL ARRIVE AT OUR DESTINATION IN APPROXIMATELY 8 HOURS. JUST A COUPLE OF MESSAGES BEFORE TAKE OFF: TO THE PASSENGER IN 35F.... I HAVE RECEIVED A CALL FROM BANK OF AMERICA THEY SAY WHILE YOU ARE ON VACATION PLEASE DO NOT FORGET TO PAY YOUR MORTGAGE. THEY ALSO WOULD LIKE TO GIVE YOU THE OPTION OF AUTOMATIC BILL PAY. PLEASE SEE A FLT ATTENDANT TO ARRANGE THIS. TO THE LADY IN 20H WHEN YOU ARRIVE AT YOUR FINAL DESTINATION CITIBANK WOULD LIKE YOU TO CALL AND MAKE A PAYMENT ON YOUR OVER DUE BALANCE OF $125.00 OR YOUR CREDIT PRIVLEGES WILL BE SUSPENDED AND THE RETURN PORTION OF YOUR FLIGHT WILL ALSO BE CANCELLED AS YOU OVERCHARGED ON THIS CARD TO BUY THE TICKET. TO THE 17 YEAR OLD IN 21K VISITING GRANDMA, THE LIBRARY CALLED AND SAID THEY WOULD LIKE YOU TO RETURN YOUR OVER DUE BOOKS..TODAYS TEEN AND SEX, AND HOW TO KNOW IF YOU ARE HOMOSEXUAL. AND FINALLY TO THE GENTLEMAN SEATED IN 3J IN OUR FIRST CLASS CABIN AMERICA ONLINE WOULD LIKE YOU TO KNOW YOU ARE BEHIND ON 2 PAYMENTS. THEY KINDLY ASK YOU TO LOG OFF OR VISIT THE BILLING SECTION TO MAKE A PAYMENT. OTHERWISE SERVICE WILL BE SUSPENDED. THEY WOULD ALSO LIKE TO REQUEST YOU STOP SIGNNING UP FOR p*rn AND THEN REPORTING IT AS SPAM WHEN YOUR WIFE IS AROUND. YOU ARE FLOODING THEIR BOX! THIS PLAN IS ENFORCED BY COLLECTORS TO KNOW WHERE YOU ARE EACH MINUTE SO WHEN YOU ARE ON VACATION THEY WILL GET THE LOCAL NUMBER OF WHERE YOU ARE STAYING FROM THE AIRLINE AND HARRASS YOU THERE!!
lol One last message... This is your captain again...I wanted to let everyone on the plane know that because we just ran your credit report you are all a little less likely to get that car or house loan you wanted. thanks.
One more good reason not to fly and to pay cash for everything... I could care less if the government has the info. They probably already have it so, whatever. But, the last thing I need is another corporation assessing my spending habits so that I can be added to their opt-in phone call, email and junk mail list. Ugh.
Here's the story from AP: <i>Delta to Test New Airport Security Plan By LESLIE MILLER, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Defense contractor Lockheed-Martin will develop a new system to check background information and assign a threat level to all commercial air passengers, the Transportation Department announced on Friday. The company, which employed Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta in the mid-1990s, was awarded a five-year contract to administer the program. The first phase of the contract is worth $12.8 million, transportation officials said. Civil liberties watchdogs see the potential for unconstitutional invasions of privacy and for database mix-ups that could lead to innocent people being branded security risks. "This system threatens to create a permanent blacklisted underclass of Americans who cannot travel freely," said Katie Corrigan, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union. Brian Roehrkasse, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said a privacy officer will be assigned to safeguard civil liberties. "Before any new homeland security technologies are deployed, we will ensure that we will uphold the laws of the land," Roehrkasse said. "Any new data-mining technologies or programs to enhance information sharing and collecting must and will respect the civil rights and civil liberties guaranteed to the American people." The system, ordered by Congress after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, will gather much more information on passengers than previously. Delta Air Lines will try it out at three undisclosed airports beginning in about a month, and a comprehensive system could be in place by the end of the year. The nationwide computer system, which will check such things as credit reports and bank account activity and compare passenger names with those on government watch lists. Under the system, airlines will ask fliers more information than they do now: full name, address, phone number and date of birth. Advocates say the system will weed out dangerous people while ensuring law-abiding citizens aren't given unnecessary scrutiny. Transportation officials say CAPPS II — Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System — will use databases that already operate in line with privacy laws and won't profile based on race, religion or ethnicity. No data from the background checks will be stored. Airlines already do rudimentary checks of passenger information, such as method of payment, address and date the ticket was reserved. CAPPS II will collect data and rate each passenger's risk potential according to a three-color system: green, yellow, red. When travelers check in, their names will be punched into the system and their boarding passes encrypted with the ranking. TSA screeners will check the passes at checkpoints. </i>
