Flying To the US? Pay In Cash

pin_gween writes to point us to a report in the Telegraph that British travelers using a credit card to purchase their ticket may now have their credit card and email accounts inspected by US authorities. This has been true since October, when the US and the EU agreed about what information the US could demand from airlines and how this information would be handled. But details of the agreement only recently came to light following a Freedom of Information request. The US says it will "encourage" US carriers to reciprocate to any requests by European governments. From the article: "[T]he Americans are entitled to 34 separate pieces of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data... Initially, such material could be inspected for seven days but a reduced number of US officials could view it for three and a half years. Should any record be inspected during this period, the file could remain open for eight years...'It is pretty horrendous, particularly when you couple it with our one-sided extradition arrangements with the US,' said [a human rights activist]. 'It is making the act of buying a ticket a gateway to a host of personal email and financial information. While there are safeguards, it appears you would have to go to a US court to assert your rights.'"

Re:Mutual legal assistance

[Anonymous Coward]

all terrorists have [e-mail] email addresses and they all used the same credit card to purchase those two tons of fertaliser the other week.

Re:sounds good

[animaal]

Stay home, too many foreigners here anyway, most of them here ILLEGALLY. We don't want you or your money. Go somewhere else.

Who is the "We" you mention? When I visit the U.S.A. I find almost everybody to be extremely polite and welcoming.

Re:This is screwy...

[norfolkboy]

What's an extra $500 if you're planning mass mayhem

Make that an extra few thousand dollars, naturally, if you're going to fly into a building, you might as well fly first class - it's not like you'll be around to settle the credit card bill.

Re:Flying to US? Take off your tin foil hat.

[Anonymous Coward]

Paying with cash is a sure way to attract more attention to yourself, not less.

But lo and behold...

Don't be silly, government is not after you.

Oh, the irony. Come and join us... come and join us...