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CNN Live Saturday
Delta Airlines Faces Boycott
Aired March 15, 2003 - 17:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: As if times aren't already tough enough for the airline industry, now Delta Airlines is facing another uphill battle.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Many of its perspective passengers are threatening to boycott the carrier. We get more from CNN's Kathleen Koch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's an online protest against what many see as an invasion of privacy. A new passenger screening system being tested by Delta Airlines that will check financial and criminal databases to see if someone is a security risk.
BILL SCANNEL, BOYCOTT DELTA FOUNDER: Reading that a policy that was going to be put in place by my government to turn every American citizen into a threat assessment shocked me to the core. And it made me really angry. This is not why I served in the U.S. Army. That's not what I signed up for.
KOCH: Bill Scannel says he's gotten more than 250,000 hits on his Boycottdelta.org Web site. But an airline spokesperson says the program doesn't start until summer 2004. And quote, "we're not supplying any other information than we would normally collect during the ticketing process." The Transportation Security Administration explains a commercial service will check financial information, including whether fliers have a credit history, and whether they're on the FBI's terrorist watch list. But the government and the airlines will only see the travelers' final ranking -- green, yellow or red, and four details.
ADM. JAMES LOY, TSA ADMINISTRATOR: Their name, their address, their phone number and their date of birth. And that's the only information that will ever be seen by anyone inside the TSA envelope, if you will.
KOCH (on camera): So they won't see your credit history?
LOY: Absolutely not.
KOCH: They won't see whether you are a deadbeat dad or you have parking tickets?
LOY: Absolutely not. Our whole purpose here is to keep terrorists off American airliners.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think that credit ratings necessarily mean that you are a reputable person, or not a threat to terror or violence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm for it if there is a need for it for security reasons.
KOCH (voice-over): Responses to a "Washington Post" travel column and a poll by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives found a majority opposed computers delving into their personal histories in the interest of security.
(on camera): A Senate committee wants to require disclosure of how the information will be used and how travelers' rights will be protected. Government security officials begin meetings this weekend with privacy advocates to work that out.
Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired March 15, 2003 - 17:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: As if times aren't already tough enough for the airline industry, now Delta Airlines is facing another uphill battle.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Many of its perspective passengers are threatening to boycott the carrier. We get more from CNN's Kathleen Koch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's an online protest against what many see as an invasion of privacy. A new passenger screening system being tested by Delta Airlines that will check financial and criminal databases to see if someone is a security risk.
BILL SCANNEL, BOYCOTT DELTA FOUNDER: Reading that a policy that was going to be put in place by my government to turn every American citizen into a threat assessment shocked me to the core. And it made me really angry. This is not why I served in the U.S. Army. That's not what I signed up for.
KOCH: Bill Scannel says he's gotten more than 250,000 hits on his Boycottdelta.org Web site. But an airline spokesperson says the program doesn't start until summer 2004. And quote, "we're not supplying any other information than we would normally collect during the ticketing process." The Transportation Security Administration explains a commercial service will check financial information, including whether fliers have a credit history, and whether they're on the FBI's terrorist watch list. But the government and the airlines will only see the travelers' final ranking -- green, yellow or red, and four details.
ADM. JAMES LOY, TSA ADMINISTRATOR: Their name, their address, their phone number and their date of birth. And that's the only information that will ever be seen by anyone inside the TSA envelope, if you will.
KOCH (on camera): So they won't see your credit history?
LOY: Absolutely not.
KOCH: They won't see whether you are a deadbeat dad or you have parking tickets?
LOY: Absolutely not. Our whole purpose here is to keep terrorists off American airliners.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think that credit ratings necessarily mean that you are a reputable person, or not a threat to terror or violence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm for it if there is a need for it for security reasons.
KOCH (voice-over): Responses to a "Washington Post" travel column and a poll by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives found a majority opposed computers delving into their personal histories in the interest of security.
(on camera): A Senate committee wants to require disclosure of how the information will be used and how travelers' rights will be protected. Government security officials begin meetings this weekend with privacy advocates to work that out.
Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
