No-fly list

Being on ?the "no-fly list" means that you won't be allowed to board planes departing from or arriving into the United States. There are 16,000 people on the no-fly list, of which fewer than 500 are U.S. persons.^[1]

Matching a name on the "no-fly list" means that your name is similar to the name of someone who is listed on the "no-fly list". You won't be able to get a boarding pass until a human being at the airport check-in counter has verified that you are not a person on the no-fly list, even though your name may be similar to the name of someone who is.

So, the fast way to figure out whether you're on the no-fly list is to:

• Buy a refundable ticket on a US carrier between two domestic destinations, say ORD to BOS, departing less than 24 hours from now. (This is something business travelers do all the time; it's no big deal.)
• Try to check in online.
• If you get a boarding pass, great, you're done! You're not on the list. It's OK for it to have a seat assignment if you have one, or to say "confirmed awaiting seats" if you don't, just as long as it's a boarding pass, a document which would let you transit security.
• If you don't get a boarding pass, you might match the name of someone who's on the no-fly list. Visit your local airport (let's say it's ORD) and ask what's up. If they ask to see ID, and spend a fair amount of time entering details, your name might match someone who's on the no-fly list. Try asking whether it would help your future travel for you to get a "redress number". If they say yes, it's because they have been verifying your identity in a way that involves checking it against a name on the no-fly list. You can get a "redress number" which shows that you've verified your identity before and makes it easier to show that it's not the same as the identity of someone on the no-fly list.
• If you don't get a boarding pass and when you visit the airport they refuse to give you a boarding pass, and instead refund your ticket, then you personally (not someone with your name) might really be on the no-fly list.
• After you've figured out what camp you're in, cancel your check-in and refund your ticket.

References