Six years after 9/11, delays and difficulties at the airport continue to be the predominant concern among Muslim Americans. Oftentimes individuals with Muslim names that match those from a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) watch list are unable to check-in online or obtain tickets from the e-tick kiosk. If a name resembles that from a list, passengers are sometimes subject to additional screening and questioning, leading to delays and unnecessary scrutiny. The Government Accountability Office in September 2006 reported that "misidentifications accounted for about half of the tens of thousands of times a traveler's name triggered a watch-list hit." 

While the Department of Homeland Security has sought to address traveler's grievances with programs such as TRIP (Travelers Redress Inquiry Program), DHS has currently launched a less time-consuming program that will enhance the screening process and alleviate the misidentification of individuals. The Department of Homeland Security will now provide airlines more flexibility for passengers to check in remotely who have previously be unable to do so because they have a name similar to someone from a watch list.  

The TSA stated that "each airline will now be able to create a system that verifies and securely stores a passenger's date of birth in order to clear up passenger misidentifications." Passengers can now voluntarily provide limited personal information to an airline and verify that information once at a ticket counter in order to mitigate the inconvenience of this process on every trip. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff stated "hassles due to misidentification and the resulting necessity to stand in line to check in at the ticket counter is consistently among the deepest-and most valid-complaints of the traveling public."  

While international leaders such as Nelson Mandela and political figures such as Senator Ted Kennedy have been repeatedly stopped at airports, identity mistakes disproportionately affect the Muslim American community.  While there are countless cases of Muslim American citizens unable to peaceably travel domestically and internationally due to an over-inclusive watch list, the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) and TSA are steadily working with the Muslim American community in order to create constructive solutions.

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