March 10th, 2003

To My Compatriots at Delta and Other Airlines,

Watch your "six" guys. This system is REALLY going to wreak havoc with non-rev travel. You think it's difficult now? Let me set this up for you:

-You didn't pay anything for a ticket: Strike One.
-You don't have a reservation: Strike Two.
-The system can't check your credit history: Strike Three!

Check a bag? Ha ! And that's not all. Unless they have changed something lately, non revs will be a "ghost" to the system, so you get "tagged" as a "bad guy". Once that happens, I suspect this system will see you as a "bad guy" every time you travel.

Airline employees ought to be fighting this system tooth and nail, both as citizens, and as employees who have been treated like criminals since the onset of "100%" screening. Your pilot's association has been fighting for many years to try to get a secure universal airline pilot ID for access to our workplaces. The efforts were always stymied by the FAA, (with help and input from any number of "alphabet" organizations on Capitol Hill.) At this time TSA does not know how the CAPPS II system will work with the proposed new secure ID for transportation workers. So don't hold your breath waiting for the ability to get to your airplane and fly your trip without the undue stress of being strip searched at the screening point.

Capt. R.J. Cox

Capt. Robert Cox is a senior airline Captain with a major airline in the United States. Capt. Cox is the former Special Projects Officer for the National Security Committee of the Airline Pilots Association, having resigned that position early last year due to numerous political differences with the Association's handling of such issues as crew identification, and armed law enforcement officers traveling on air carriers. He has written numerous articles on airline screening, having attended and graduated the FAA required training for screeners, (pre-9/11) with three of the country's major screening companies. Capt. Cox is also a graduate of the AAAE / FAA Basic and Advanced Airport Security and Law Enforcement School. He has made over 100 presentations on aviation security to include the FBI Academy at Quantico, Airport Law Enforcement Agencies Network (ALEAN), numerous FBI airport agents conferences, as well as the Seminar on Terrorism and Explosives, cosponsored by FAA and ATF. He has testified to Congress on aviation security and been interviewed by numerous media news shows, including "Good Morning America". He has been an airline Captain for over twenty years, and has been involved in aviation security for the majority of that time.