Has this happened to anyone who has traveled overseas lately?

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

Mr. Wonderful (my husband) is leaving the US to go to Ireland on Sunday night. I got this weird e-mail from Aer Lingus last night saying they needed his passport/green card number, what country do you reside in, etc, etc.

We both travelled to the "old country" last May on separate flights with Aer Lingus (aka Air Fungus in our house) and neither one of us were asked these questions. Not only that but Mr. Wonderful went home again last September and I never received any e-mail at that time from Aer Lingus about this. BTW he left the US before I went to DC for the anti-war protest.

Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but this really bothers me. Is this "par for the course" for Americans going overseas now (btw Mr. Wonderful is an American citizen) or is this something new the Dept. of Homeland Security is implementing? I'm really worried that he and myself might be on a no-flight list.

I'm not traveling with him on Sunday night, the only reason he's going home is because his mother's anniversary Mass is next Thursday night and he wants to be there with his family.

Should I expect that maybe on Sunday night at ORD he'll be pulled from security and not be allowed on his flight? I certainly hope not, because if that does happen, there will be two of us in Federal custody at ORD or the federal detention center in Chicago Sunday night.
"A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves" - Edward R. Murrow

[FreedomAngel82]

1. I've never

been over seas so I couldn't tell you. I did go to the Bahamas on a cruise about two summers ago. I've never known of them to do that. I hope you get some answers. I'd be worried too now days. :scared: I know I'm a lot more paranoid and I have no reason to be. I just vote and do online petitions.

[BlueCollar]

2. not exactly helping your cause

by posting on the DU now are you?

LOL

I shouldn't concern myself about it...

[July]

23. Not exactly offering information or support now are you?

LOL

You're right, you shouldn't concern yourself about it.

[XOKCowboy]

3. I went to Madrid last October...

Japan in April, London in February with no notice like that. Did you check Air Linguis website? It could be an Irish rule. I'm going back to London next month so I'll let ya know if I get any such emails or requirements.

My only seditious activities though are posting on here and hanging with hardcore libs.

[REP]

4. Screening Procedures Have Changed Since Last May

I am clueless about overseas travel, but I do the whole screening thing has changed again recently. I had to notify the airline that I was traveling with medical equipment (and it was still checked for bomb residue - it's respiratory equipment, for crying out loud!).

[Qanisqineq]

5. I flew overseas last weekend

to Korea to live. I had no problems, no weird e-mails, nothing. Interesting.

[Clark2008]

6. Oh, hey, hon. Try being the American mother of an American

born, yet half-Palestinian boy.

Talk about mistreatment. He was THREE and got body searched (yeah, I had to stop the shit, but, yes, they tried).

I hold his passport - his father is barely in his life, but it matters not.

I need to change his name and I hope my ex husband will let me for his son's own safety. It's getting riddikulus, as Harry Potter might say (that scares me most).

[babylonsister]

7. Did you send the info? I wouldn't. I would communicate only

through phone if you have to, or at the airport. You have passports, you've paid, what's the prob?
I don't trust e-mails, but having said that, my last trip to a hotel was booked on an online site.
Call Aer Lingus and ask them what their policies are.

[globalvillage]

8. Just reminding him what papers he needs?

Or asking him to e-mail them back the info?

Yes to the first, no to the second. That was last year, though. Also Aer Lingus.

[cynatnite]

9. I think I'd call the airlines first before emailing them...

You can at least verify if they really did send the email. There are always email scams rolling about. A few weeks ago, it appeared paypal sent me an email requesting I click on their link to change my password. I was suspicious and come to find out it wasn't them at all. Just another scam.

Better to be safe than sorry.

[karlrschneider]

10. I can't imagine an airline communicating that kind of request by email

If you haven't already, I'd strongly suggest you NOT reply with any sort of personal information. Call the airline directly.

edit: changed "information" to "request" in subj line

[RapidCreek]

11. Didn't happen to when I flew into Belfast on business.

Then again I wasn't flyiing Airanus either.

RC

[Hardrada]

18. Con Lingus

[burrowowl]

12. The U$ is requiring

airlines to ask for more info.

[Withywindle]

13. Not by email but..

I'm going to Malaysia with my mom in April and when she bought the tickets on Malaysia Air, she had to give both our passport numbers. I think this is standard now, at least for that airline.

My boyfriend and I visited his parents in Toronto last fall, and Air Canada didn't ask for that info.

Mom and I went to Brazil in '04, and I did get fingerprinted, which never used to happen--that's in direct response to the US doing that to Brazilians, I can't say I blame them. Mom didn't because she's a dual national.

[magellan]

14. Hubby traveled to the UK last Fall

First, let me emphasise: if Aer Lingus are asking you to send your passport/green card info by email that's a bad, bad idea. You don't know who might intercept it; you can't be sure where it will end up. I'd call Aer Lingus to give them the info they want. Please DON'T email it to them, if that's what they're suggesting!

That said, we didn't get any emails like yours from BA, but my husband had already answered these same questions when signing up for BA's executive club online, before booking. (Being a member also allowed him to bypass book-in at the airport.)

He says you get asked these questions on book-in at the airport now too, where before they just gave your passport a cursory glance and handed it back to you with your boarding pass. So if you haven't ever given Aer Lingus this information, they might be asking for it now simply to streamline the book-in process.

[LearnedHand]

15. highly likely it's a scam

Phone Aer Lingus and ask them why the emailed you asking for personal, private information.

[upi402]

16. sounds like one of those PayPal email scams

that requests confirming info from you. You're probably just experiencing a fishing expedition from someone who acquired your email address from Air Lingus or ???

[Montagnard]

17. Tiocfaidh Ar La

Never asked those questions...hard telling what or who.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

19. Oh Lord, I think I f**ed up big time.

As I said I got this e-mail from Aer Lingus and it really did look legit.

Stupid, stupid me. I did exactly what I was told. That's what sixteen years of Catholic education will do for ya..

I did get a return e-mail and I printed it out; saying that they had the info and thank you, thinking it would avoid big time hassles at ORD Sunday afternoon.

I only hope that this is something new that Air Fungus and the Dept. of Homeland Security is implementing. If Mr. Wonderful is not allowed on his flight Sunday afternoon, it will not make either of us happy campers.

I'm sooo dumb!!!:mad: :mad:

[magellan]

20. If you got a reply

...it may just be legit. I don't think a spammer would go to the trouble of setting up an auto-reply, although I could be wrong.

Just curious, what was the email address you sent your reply to?

[radwriter0555]

26. Then just call the airlines and ask them about the email....

It's not a big deal, there is no scam.

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. New Rules from Tuesday, 4 October 2005

USA requires passenger details from international airlines

Effective today airlines, cruise ships, and other vessels operating on international routes to or from the USA are required to provide the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) division of the USA Department of Homeland Security (DHS), electronically, in a standard format, with detailed information on all passengers and crew members, including information well beyond anything contained in their passports or travel documents:

Each electronic arrival or departure manifest must contain certain information for all passengers or crew members of air and vessel carriers. Air carriers must provide the following information: (a) Complete name; (b) date of birth; ( c ) citizenship (country of document issuance); (d) gender; (e) passport number and country of issuance, if a passport is required; (f) country of residence; (g) United States visa number, date, and place of issuance (arrivals only); (h) alien registration number; (i) United States address while in the United States; (j) International Air Transport Association (IATA) arrival port code; (k) IATA departure port code; (l) flight number, date of flight arrival, date of flight departure; (m) airline carrier code; (n) document type (e.g., passport; visa; alien registration); (o) date of document expiration; and (p) a unique passenger identifier, or reservation number or Passenger Name Record (PNR) locator number.

http://hasbrouck.org/blog/archives/000840.html

So if they know your passport number before you queue up at the airport, it means less queues there. They are also meant to check passenger names against lists they have of people who aren't allowed to fly, and in the past have chucked people off just because of a coincidence of names. So, in theory, having your passport number as well as name ought to help innocent people. It can, however, feel authoritarian. But, for transatlantic travel, we're at the mercy of the authorities - you can hardly say "I'm sailing there instead".

[Nimrod2005]

22. Never heard of this, but don't think it is HLS, I think it is an airline

thing, trying to get things done before people line up at their counter...I would not give thtme the passport number on an e-mail. They will just have to do the work when he gets there.

[tenshi816]

24. Yes.

I live in England and have been asked for this information every time I've booked a flight outside the UK for the last couple of years, and yes, it's a Homeland Security thing.

What the airlines say here is that although passengers are not required by law to give that information before flying, it's encouraged because it makes the checking-in process faster at the airport (not that I've noticed check-in times becoming any quicker).

[radwriter0555]

25. NORMAL. Travel has become more documented in this day and age...

He won't be pulled from his flight, they're just doing their diligence. I encountered the same this week traveling back and forth to and from France.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

27. Thanks everyone. As I said in the OP

neither one of us has traveled overseas since last September and this just sort of freaked me out.

This really does have a feeling of "you vill show me your papers" type of thing doesn't it? Never thought I would have lived to see this sort of thing happening in the US, but obviously it has happened and will continue to happen.

Thanks to Chimpy and his friends, I guess the 4th Amendment to the Constitution is now inoperable..

:evilfrown: :evilfrown: