Passengers coming into the US will no longer be scrutinised due to nationality alone

Airport news for Flights,Travel on 05/04/2010.

Arrange your travel plans by choosing from car hire, hotels, flights, airport parking and travel insurance using our form.

People travelling from abroad to the US are to undergo a new screening policy, announced this week by President Barak Obama. The new system will only see passengers exposed to extra screening if their description or travel history can be linked to specific terrorist intelligence.

The current system at US airports is to exert extra baggage searches and pat-downs on travellers from no less than 14 specific countries. The new system will come into effect next month, in what civil liberties groups are calling a step in the right direction for international relations.

After a bombing was just narrowly avoided on a transatlantic flight to Detroit on Christmas Day, it is hoped by many that the new rules will provide a more effective guard against terrorism. American Muslim groups have also said that the new system should help avoid discrimination and racial profiling.

As well as this, the specific threat-base system is hoped to ease airport delays during America’s busy summer season, although how the new procedures will be implemented is yet unknown. It is also not clear who is responsible for enforcing the new regulations.

Civil liberties groups have welcomed the move but called for greater transparency so it is clear that the new system is not covertly discriminatory. Senate representatives have also commented that the new rules will only be as effective as the intelligence they are based on.

More Airport News