Air travelers to be asked for more data

WASHINGTON, June 15 (UPI) -- To bolster security, all airlines will be required to gather passengers' full names, dates of birth and gender, U.S. federal security officials said.

Airlines with domestic flights must comply by early 2010 and carriers with international flights by the end of 2010, said Carrie Harmon, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Safety Administration.

The new federal program, called Secure Flight, aims to increase safety and reduce the frequency of misidentifying passengers with those named on suspected terrorist lists, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Monday.

The program requires TSA agents, rather than airline workers, to match travelers against names of suspected terrorists, Harmon said.

While the program requires more data to be collected, it may prevent some travelers from being erroneously matched with names on the terror list, said Chris Calabrese, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union.