My travel agent has asked for our passport numbers to make bookings for our international trip. Do we really need to do that? It makes me nervous to have those numbers out there?

Someone suggested putting in a random number with the correct digits, saying the key was just having a passport when you got to the airport.

Any thoughts?

Under the new TSA secure flight requirement airlines are supposed to collect your passport info at the time of booking.

What specifically is your concern about the airline having your passport #?

Remember you now need the permission of the Federal government to travel. You must give you full name, sex, date of birth, and passport number so it can be determined if you will be allowed to travel. You don't have much choice if you want to go. Give a false number and you may never fly again.

I don't think it's as sinister as fmpden portrays it:

"you now need the permission of the Federal government to travel"

"so it can be determined if you will be allowed to travel"

The TSA Secure Flight program is there to weed out false matches with no-fly lists. If you are Misha Smith and there's another Misha Smith on a watch list, things like middle names, dates of birth and passport numbers will distinguish you from that person. But, no, you are not "asking for permission from the government to travel." I hope nobody believes that.

Don't give a made-up number. When you check in at the airport, your real passport number won't match and that will look suspicious.

International airlines have required passport numbers to book flights for years and years. It's virtually impossible to make bookings with some airlines (such as Singapore Air) without providing your passport number. This is certainly nothing new, although it may be new in the US on outbound international flights.

I think it might also play a role in determining if travelers have the required visa to travel to specific countries. For instance, when I arrive in Singapore and produce my passport for my next fllight, they key in my passport number and up pops my Austalian visa.

Okay. Feeling much better. I was concerned because I had heard so many scary stories about people stealing numbers to sell fake passports,

Relieved and a little shamefaced.

So what if Mossad uses your name on a fake passport for their next assassination plot? Won't that make a good story?

If only it was just passport numbers. These days I wouldn't be surprised if I had to give a DNA sample to book tickets

Here in the UK we've had to input passport numbers for all flights to Spain for a few years now, when booking seats.

There's no problem doing this and if you turn up at check in without having your passport details registered, either correctly or not at all, you may well be refused for the flight.

I think every time you have your first international flight with an airline, it scans your passport and keeps the info for your future travels with them. It's been like this for long time, way before 9/11.

Do not give random numbers!

fmpden on Mar 7, 10 at 12:26pm
Remember you now need the permission of the Federal government to travel.

HUH? FMPDEN, if you can move to the US, you can travel free, like I do now.

You can spin it any way you like but the fact is the the TSA decides who flies and who doesn't. I call that permission. The no fly lists are reported to contain hundred of thousands of names. Nobody knows who is on the list or how they got on the list. It is all a big secret designed to protect us. Are we sure that all those names are terrorists or potential terrorists. And then we actually have a terrorist -- guess what ???? He is not on the list. Also, all of this you travel information in great detail is being reported to the government and you can bet your last dollar that it is being retained.

Glass half empty, glass half full ...