No Match, No Flight: New Travel Rules

[Guest]

No match, no flight: new travel rules

http://birdofparadox.wordpress.com/2009/08...atch-no-flight/

For those that didn't know there are new travel rules. They now ask your gender and birthdate. Your appearance must match what you say your gender is. This makes traveling for transgender people more difficult and discrimintaory.

Laura

[Guest mia 1]

Too much regulation where there is no need and not enough to help those in need..Didn't Marvin Gay sing about that?

The gov't has no need to uphold our civil rights because our voting block is negligible....

Darn it only if we were "too big to fail."

[Guest StrandedOutThere]

Too much regulation where there is no need and not enough to help those in need..Didn't Marvin Gay sing about that?

The gov't has no need to uphold our civil rights because our voting block is negligible....

Darn it only if we were "too big to fail."

Yup, yup... You said it, Mia.

I know this isn't the spirit of the regulation, but I am pretty sure there transgender people aren't much of a security risk. I understand that they want to make sure that people are who they say they are, but I doubt any additional security threats will be found by making sure stated gender matches one's appearance.

For those of us who have mismatched documentation, I wonder if that will set off red flags. My driver's license says "male" now because that was the easiest thing to change over. However, my social security card and passport still have me down as being female. I only usually have to show my DL when I go on domestic flights, but do you think they cross check that info with other stuff? I know they caught it on my student loan application.

[Sally]

I've lived my who;e life as a white male with no money, so none of the 'perks', I have watched as each minority has taken its turn at gaining acceptance and now that I have officially joined in a minority - it has to be the one thatis being ignored!

Oh Well, life is like that - I should have know that they would make it difficult but wouldn't they be able to figure that out if you are flying to Bangcock?

Well still no representation, no one cares about the working poor or the transgendered!

Well I can't afford to fly anywhere anyway.

Maybe we can get something in there for transgendered with carry letters from their therapists.

Love ya,

Sally

[Guest AllisonD]

I have had to carry my passport for my last several domestic flights, they ask for it at the security screens. Is it possible to travel, even domestically, without one now? The passport shows both sex and DOB.

I am missing something, this doesn't sound new to me. Well, not that new anyway. Years ago I could fly without even a driver's license, but even if you could fly with a driver's license now don't they ALL have your sex and DOB on them?

Long before I had SRS I had an accurate picture of how I currently looked on my license. Some years later I got the DMV to grant me the coveted F marker, but I was still years away from SRS. No one actually 'inspected' my factory equipment. Are they now suggesting that the 'pat down searches' will also serve as factory equipment inspections?

Allison

[Guest NatalieRene]

Just another reason why I don't fly on commercial air lines any more. Maybe one day I'll buy myself a single engine plane if I'm really lucky, until then I'll drive.

[Guest nova]

Well, that's it--somebody call the ACLU. The only way I'll put myself through that kind of humiliation is if I'm boarding a plane to Thailand for GRS.

[Guest Donna Jean]

The world has gone crazy!

In the early 70's when I flew commercial when I was in the Air Force...I would get invited to the flight deck and sit and talk with the pilots...I had my flight crew member wings on my uniform and it was a pass...

Nowdays Chuck Norris can't visit the flight deck....

When Darcy and I lived up on Lake Erie ...east of Cleveland...we would run up to Niagara Falls on the Canadian side for the weekend...

Now you need a passport to just go over ......

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

My 'ole buddy...Ben Franklin......

Geez.........safe on the farm....

Donna Jean

[Guest StrandedOutThere]

I have had to carry my passport for my last several domestic flights, they ask for it at the security screens. Is it possible to travel, even domestically, without one now? The passport shows both sex and DOB.

I am missing something, this doesn't sound new to me. Well, not that new anyway. Years ago I could fly without even a driver's license, but even if you could fly with a driver's license now don't they ALL have your sex and DOB on them?

Long before I had SRS I had an accurate picture of how I currently looked on my license. Some years later I got the DMV to grant me the coveted F marker, but I was still years away from SRS. No one actually 'inspected' my factory equipment. Are they now suggesting that the 'pat down searches' will also serve as factory equipment inspections?

Allison

I flew somewhere fairly recently and still only needed my license. A lot of times I'll carry my passport just in case but no one has ever asked to see it. On my most recent flight I was able to check in at a kiosk using the credit card I'd paid with. The only person that checked my ID was the TSA agent who only compared the name on my DL to the name on my ticket. It'll be interesting to see how things are different when I fly in November.

My DL picture still looks like me even though it was taken when I'd only been on T for about 1.5 months. My new passport pic will be more up to date.

Okay, maybe I'm crazy, but does anyone think these new regulations might be able to serve as a foothold to get states to relax their regulations on getting ID's changed? In some states you need only a letter from your therapist to change gender on a DL. In other states, such as my home state of SC, I don't think they allow a gender marker change on someone's DL at all. That might have changed since last I checked. With legal forms of ID becoming increasingly important for everyday things, there needs to be one fair set of standards that all states abide by.

These regulations could also be used to force liberal states to be stricter, but hopefully there will be more push in a direction that's favorable for us.

[Guest StrandedOutThere]

When Darcy and I lived up on Lake Erie ...east of Cleveland...we would run up to Niagara Falls on the Canadian side for the weekend...

Now you need a passport to just go over ......

When I went to Canada back in 2005 you could still get in without a passport, but it was a pain. My friend couldn't get his passport soon enough for the trip and was able to get in and out of Canada by showing his birth certificate and driver's license. They almost wanted to give him trouble, but the specific regulations weren't in place yet so they let him through.

[Guest Zabrak]

Wow thats pretty messed up. Every seen V for Vendetta? lol Maybe people will need a revolution some time soon because government control is getting crazy.

I have M and Kyle on my papers now...but it still annoys me they have to care so much.

[Guest CharlieRose]

Oh my goodness would being transgender have to do with being a terrorist? Seriously, think about it for a sec. All that rule would really stop would be transgendered people, from transsexuals who haven't gotten adequate documentation yet (usually only because of overly strict standards and outlandish out-of-pocket expenses) to transgendered people like my butch lezzie friend (her homophobic neighbors think she's a straight guy, lol) and another friend of mine who ids as male but likes his long hair and skirts.

I guess it's a classic case of people being too worried about looking busy and not bothering to THINK for a second!

[Guest gwenthlian]

So is my understanding correct in that this is only an American thing? I knew there were nicer places for a holiday ^^

[Guest Jean Davis]

OMG leave it up to the USA to come up with the most stupid program in the last century.

I mean really, Have you ever heard of any terrorist lieing about their gender or age.

In the case of 9-11, those terrorists had full intentions to die when the plane crashed, they had no reason to lie about age or gender.

And honestly if someones going through all the time and effort to hijack a plane don't you think they would spend a little more effort to get the proper documentation to board the plane.

All this is going to accomplish is to turn people away from flying and make the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) a joke.

Remember guilty until proven innocent seems to be the road that we are taking here

Jean Davis

[Guest Jean Davis]

No one actually 'inspected' my factory equipment. Are they now suggesting that the 'pat down searches' will also serve as factory equipment inspections?

Allison

Any one inspects my "factory equipment" their going to get a fat lip and I'll drive to where I need to go.

Jean Davis

[Sally]

Would that be the overweight lady at the metal detector with her pants so tight that the fly is gaping open and the tines of her zipper are hanging on for dear life or the guy that thought that standing behind an X-Ray machine 8 hours a day was a good career choice?

They should be happy about the MTFs it is much harder to hide a bomb in a pair of strappy 6" stilettos!

At least we are safe from the hordes of nail clipper wielding transgendered insurgents who try to board our airliners with more than three ounces of shampoo.

I can sleep well now - just not on an airplane!

Love ya,

Sally