Slightly OT: Delta Airlines Boycott

[Roland Perry]

In message <BA8920A3.ED0D%johndoe2@mail.anonymizer.com>, John Doe Number 
Two <johndoe2@mail.anonymizer.com> writes

>They're trying to kill off CAPPS II by making the pilot test fail.

Of course, they don't have Data Protection laws quite like ours, in the 
USA. So it may be more difficult to discover what a company has recorded 
about you. In the area of credit checks, these can be quite 
illuminating. I recommend that everyone applies for their UK credit 
details, as an exercise. One of the things it lists is all the 
subscribers to the service who register your name and address at the 
time *they* did a credit check on you. If these all match (ie you supply 
the same details each time) it's probably helpful to you credit rating.

The article pointed to suggests that simply doing a credit check damages 
your status. I think it's much more likely that doing an *unsuccessful* 
credit check is what matters here. (ie One where it turns out you are 
asking for more credit than you really deserve). It seems to me unlikely 
that Delta will be using the credit check for much more than verifying 
your name and address. As a kind of shadow-electoral roll, that's one of 
its main uses here too.

Meanwhile, and slightly off the topic of CAPS, but on-topic for 
misleading information recorded about oneself... Your credit record 
shows mainly how long you've had a relationship with a credit provider, 
and how often and how long you've been in arrears (or worse). As far as 
I can see, if you are in dispute with your supplier (and I've had many 
head-to-heads with my mobile phone provider), this gets marked as being 
in default that month - if you withhold payment until the dispute is 
settled. And when it's all settled there's nothing to show that you were 
right and the supplier wrong.

Back at Delta, I wonder if Atlanta will be their test site? As their 
major hub it has reasons why it would be both a good and a bad choice. 
They also have a specific problem that arriving International passengers 
mix with departing domestic ones. As a result it's the only place I've 
found that searches incoming passengers. I wonder what a "red" status 
would do, at that stage. (You are past the immigration desks, and in 
theory if you had only hand baggage could check into a departing 
domestic flight at the gate - unless they've barred that now as well).

It will be interesting to see if "red" travellers get their ticket 
booking refused, or whether they are turned away at checkin. And what 
excuse they'll be given.
-- 
Roland Perry