As part of efforts to expand its Advance Passenger Information System (APIS), US Customs and Border and Border Protection (CBP) has proposed new rules that require all international airlines flying in and out of the US to provide additional information about all passengers, prior to flight departures. The passengers are expected to provide:
*A U.S. address
*Two phone numbers
*An email address
According to viewfromthewing.com, anyone that does not or cannot comply with this rules would be denied boarding. Airlines would be allowed to keep the information for their own purposes. And they would be permitted, and in some cases required, to share it with foreign governments as well. The purpose of the rule is described as “enabling CBP to determine whether each passenger is traveling with valid authentic travel documents prior to the passenger boarding the aircraft.” This is something that they do today already.
It’s unclear who would be stopped that poses a threat now, though the travel rights of American citizens and others would be burdened. Instead it effectively imposes a travel document requirement on Americans that isn’t provided for in law, and outsources control over travelers to airlines that the agency cannot statutorily impose on its own.
