The National Business Travel Association lauds the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) announcement of a Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (TRIP) aimed at providing travelers with a…
The National Business Travel Association lauds the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) announcement of a Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (TRIP) aimed at providing travelers with a single, easy-to-use point of access for travel-related questions.
The program, unveiled by DHS officials, stems from travel industry officials and the traveling public’s pleas for a system to rectify misidentification issues and instances in which travelers are incorrectly delayed, denied boarding or subjected to increased scrutiny at U.S. airports and other transportation hubs.
NBTA President and CEO Suzanne Fletcher remarked, “NBTA has been calling for simplified redress processes on behalf of its members for years. The association is pleased its efforts were recognized by DHS officials and commends the agency for moving forward with the vision for travel security the Departments of State and Homeland Security outlined early last year.”
Fletcher continued, “The healthy conduct of business travel is essential to the U.S. and global economies. By introducing a system that will give business travelers a simplified process to address issues they may encounter at security checkpoints when traveling, our nation is assured that commerce is not negatively impacted by national security efforts.”
Execution of the DHS TRIP system is expected to take place on February 20, 2007. At this time, the system will collect and process traveler redress inquiries and route them to the appropriate DHS department for review. Individuals submitting redress inquiries through the system will be able to track the progress of information collected throughout the process online.
Additionally, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) recent announcement that it will review the names on the nation’s terrorist watch list for accuracy should help reduce the number of travelers mistakenly misidentified at security check points.
Fletcher added, “Both of these steps – the introduction of a simplified redress process and the review of TSA terrorist watch lists – are vital to preventing unnecessary havoc on travelers. NBTA looks forward to working with these and other government bodies on behalf of the corporate travel industry throughout the coming year to refine and enhance these processes to improve the experiences for thousands of travelers.”
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
