DAVID ROLFE,
Madam, - As a frequent traveller between Ireland and the United States I am baffled why anyone would object to passenger details being handed over to the US authorities before the departure of a US-bound flight.
The loss of privacy is in practice minimal and represents an adjustment to what would be considered "normal" in the US. Given the extent to which my interests will be compromised if I find myself on the same flight as the next Richard Reid or Mohammed Atta,
I have no problem with the US authorities having my credit card number. In practice it's extremely unlikely that they will trawl my statements looking for purchases from the "Acme Exploding Shoe Company" or "Never Land Flight Simulation". Instead they will be looking for bogus credit card numbers, stolen cards or brand new cards that have never been used until somebody bought a business class ticket.
All such situations would raise legitimate questions about the identity and bona fides of the passengers in question and I would much prefer my flight to be delayed or even turned back than to discover that one of my fellow passengers had plans to seriously infringe my civil liberties by destroying the aircraft. - Yours, etc.,
DAVID ROLFE,
Rathmines,
Dublin 6.