TSA Tweaks Passenger Info Grab for Secure Flights
Published Date: 12/10/2025
Notice
Summary
The TSA is updating how it collects passenger info from airlines to keep flights safe and spot potential threats. This affects U.S. and foreign airlines that share traveler details with the Secure Flight program. You’ve got until January 9, 2026, to share your thoughts, and no big cost changes are expected.
Analyzed Economic Effects
5 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 2 costs, 1 mixed.
Secure Flight collects passenger data
TSA’s Secure Flight program collects Secure Flight Passenger Data (SFPD) from covered U.S. aircraft operators and foreign air carriers to do watch-list matching and prescreening. The collection covers passengers on flights within, to, from, or over the continental United States and on flights between two foreign locations when those flights are operated by a covered U.S. aircraft operator.
Charter and 'Twelve-Five' flights included
Secure Flight’s data collection explicitly includes passengers of charter operators and lessors of aircraft with a maximum takeoff weight over 12,500 pounds (so-called 'Twelve-Five' operators). Covered aircraft operators and airport operators must submit the required passenger information for these operators as part of the collection.
Use of low-risk lists for expedited screening
Secure Flight receives lists of low-risk individuals from federal and non-federal entities and uses those lists as part of TSA PreCheck to identify travelers eligible for expedited screening and to transmit the appropriate boarding-pass printing result to aircraft operators.
Big increase in respondents and burden hours
TSA reports the revised collection increases the estimated annual number of respondents to 300,919 and estimated annual burden hours to 43,636. TSA previously reported 875 annual respondents and 10,950 annual burden hours.
Visitor authorization and TSA-issued visitor passes
TSA is revising the collection for non-traveling individuals whom operators or airports authorize to enter a sterile area (for example, to escort a minor or a passenger with disabilities). The revision lets operators request authorization directly from TSA and TSA will issue a visitor pass to allow the non-traveler to enter the sterile area.
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