CAIR-Houston

Flying While Muslim Campaign

Reporting incidents
What you do if you're questioned or detained
Your rights as a traveler
How to get off the No-Fly list
Traveler tips
X-Ray machine sees through clothing?

Reporting Incidents

CAIR-Houston has initiated a campaign entitled "Flying While Muslim". The premise of this campaign is to have Muslims, who have been discriminated against at airports while traveling throughout the US and its territories, report any incidents which occur from the time they enter the departing airport to the moment they walk out of the arrival airport.

If you feel like you've been set aside to be searched, your baggage intentionally mishandled, interrogated or questioned, or any other act you feel is unfair or inappropriate due to your religion or race then you need to REPORT IT NOW!

What will CAIR-Houston do with my information?

CAIR-Houston works with various corporations and government agencies and has a dedicated full-time staff, board members and volunteers working day and night to help defend the legal and constitutional rights.

As with all information collected by CAIR-Houston, it remains in the confines of our office and is always CONFIDENTIAL. The only aspect of the data that is shared is pertinent information related to the airport, time and airline. We will NOT report your name or other personal information. The reason we report this information is to better suggest changes to airports security procedures with hard facts. Without hard facts our words would be: just words.

Why should I report it?

Make your voice heard. Defend your right and your freedom.
Take Action to End Racial Profiling. One person can change the fate of an entire group.
Raise awareness about racial profiling.
If you don't report it, it will happen to someone else and the system will never change.

How Do I Report Complaints?

Fill out the form below immediately. A CAIR-Houston representative will contact you within 24 hours. If you have any questions please email traveler@cairhouston.org or call us at 713-838-CAIR (2247).

What you do if you're questioned or detained?

If you’re reading this prior to traveling remember to remain calm and cooperative.
Collect as much information as possible. Gather the names and badge numbers of all involved personnel. Ask witnesses, if any, to give their names and contact information.
Write down gate information, flight number and time of incident.
Please write down any conversation occurred between you and all involved airport personnel to the best of your recollection.
Fill out the form below immediately. A CAIR-Houston representative will contact you within 24 hours.

If you have any questions please email traveler@cairhouston.org or call us at 713-838-CAIR (2247).

Your Rights As a Traveler

As an airline passenger, you are entitled to courteous, respectful and non-stigmatizing treatment by airline and security personnel. You have the right to complain about treatment that you believe is discriminatory. If you believe you have been treated in a discriminatory manner, immediately:

1) Ask to speak to a supervisor.
2) Ask if you have been singled out because of your looks, dress, race, ethnicity, faith, or national origin.
3) Ask for the names and ID numbers of all persons involved in the incident.
4) Ask witnesses to give you their names and contact information.
5) Write down a statement of facts immediately after the incident. Be sure to include the flight number, the flight date, and the name of the airline.
6) Contact CAIR to file a report.

If you have any questions please email traveler@cairhouston.org or call us at 713-838-CAIR (2247).

How To Get Off the No-Fly List

When checking in for air travel, some passengers have found that they are unable to obtain a boarding pass. Unfortunately, some people have been subjected to frustrating delays at airports as a result of being mistaken for an individual who, in fact, is on a watch list. When this occurs, they are referred to the airline ticket counter where they may experience a delay while the agent verifies their identity.

If this situation applies to you, or if you are required to undergo additional checkpoint screening each time you fly please contact the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) toll-free at 1-866-289-9673. You may also send TSA an email at: TSA-ContactCenter@dhs.gov Or by clicking on the “Contact Us” button at www.tsa.gov.

TCC representatives are available to assist you Monday through Friday, 8:00
AM to 10:00 PM (EST), and Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays, 10:00 AM to 6:00
PM (EST).

When you contact the TSA Contact Center (TCC), a representative will explain how this process works. The entire process may take up to 45 days to complete. So that they better assist you, we ask that you have the following information readily available for the TCC representative:

-Your full name
-Your date of birth
-Telephone number
-Mailing address and email address

We also request that you send us an email to traveler@cairhouston.org so we may be alerted to this information. For more information please call us at (713) 838-CAIR.

Traveler Tips

CAIR-Houston has compiled some travel tips to speed and ease the process and to prepare you and your families for the security process:

Get to the airport in plenty of time.
As you wait in line at the security checkpoint, place all metal items in a carry-on bag and take laptops and video cameras out of their cases.
To minimize the risk of damage or loss, don’t pack fragile or valuable items in checked baggage. Take them with you in carry-on baggage, or ship them to your destination instead.
Put undeveloped film in carry-on baggage because equipment used to screen checked baggage will damage film. Also, high-speed and specialty film should not be put through X-ray machines, so passengers may ask screeners at the checkpoint to physically inspect film.
Do not wear jewelry, shoes or clothing that may set off metal detector alarms.
Remember to put identification tags in and on all baggage including laptops.
Everyone, even frequent fliers, should double check the contents of their pockets and bags, particularly carry-on luggage, to ensure no prohibited items were inadvertently packed.
Passengers selected for additional screening have the right to request that it is done in a private location.
Do not over-pack bags. If screeners have to open them, closing overstuffed bags can be difficult and may result in that checked bag being delayed until a later flight.
Listen carefully to the airline personnel. An airline employee may take your checked baggage to the x-ray machine, and you need to know where your stuff is going. Stay with your bags until you are sure that they have cleared and are on their way. Often the airline employee in charge of your bags will keep your boarding pass until that time, so don't lose him!

Sisters, be aware that TSA has the right, if necessary, to ask you to remove a head-covering so that they can check underneath it. If you are wearing an abaya/jilbab (traditional dress), you may be asked to take off your "coat" so that it can go through the x-ray machine. Simply explain that these items are part of your dress and cannot be removed in public. You have the right, under TSA policy, to request a private area with a female TSA officer in order to complete this part of the screening.

Smile and be pleasant -- airport personnel are doing their job to make travel safe for everyone. If you have an attitude, it will only give people a bad impression.

Be patient, and have a good trip!

If you have any questions please email traveler@cairhouston.org or call us at 713-838-CAIR (2247).

X-Ray Machine Sees Through Clothing?

The new "backscatter" X-ray security scanner that can see through clothing was put into its first operational use at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona and could be rolled out to two other major airports by the end of the year.

The machine will be tested for up to 90 days at a single checkpoint at Sky Harbor's largest terminal, which hosts US Airways and Southwest Airlines, two of the airlines with the most flights in and out of Phoenix. During the pilot program, the machine will be used only as a secondary screening measure. Passengers who fail the standard screening process will be able to choose between the new device or a typical pat-down search.
It's 100 percent VOLUNTARY, so if the passenger doesn't feel comfortable with it the passenger doesn't have to go through it.

The TSA security officer who works with the passenger going through the screening will never see the image the machine produces. The images will be viewed by another officer who will be about 50 feet away and won't see the passenger. The machine can't store the image or transmit them. Once the screening passenger is done, the image is gone forever.

If you have any questions please email traveler@cairhouston.org or call us at 713-838-CAIR (2247).