• Submitted by: lena campos
• Society
• 09 / 25 / 2012

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The United States is accessing the list of travellers booking flights from Spain to Cuba, Mexico and Canada, even with the prerogative of blocking their boarding pass, revealed El Pais Daily.

  They claim security concerns like chances that one passenger may abduct the plane and coordinate a detour.

From March this year, Washington has imposed the unilateral urge on every European airline through the program Secure flight overflight to supply prior to takeoff, the travellers name, birthday and gender boarding planes overflying its space even if he/she will not land in the USA otherwise, they can not travel, says the daily.

Furthermore, the United States has decided on its own to block directly the emission of boarding passes to anyone listed as "dangerous" and when it happen, the airline can do but notice the US officials with license to operate in Spanish airports under a 2009 agreement between the Washington and Madrid, notes El País.

The US officials question the travellers and say the final word on weather or not he may board.

Plus, having the client's data from March helps knowing, for instance, how many times he/she has been to Havana and with whom, reads the paper.

The policy affects two Spaniard airlines (Iberia and Air Europa) and two operating flights from Spain (Aeroméxico and Air Transat of Canada).

Buying tickets to fly to Toronto, Montreal, Mexico DF. or Havana will never warn a traveller that his/her sensitive personal data will be supplied to the US, says El Pais.

Facua and OCU, two associations in defense of consumers, define the measure as excessive and disproportionate while they champion the right to know in advance that their data will be delivered to another country.

None European Law sanctions the practice, warned an official of Agencia Española de Protección de Datos, voicing concern with the situation.

Last May, Izquierda Unida Coalition submitted a question on the matter in Parliament hearing to the government of Mariano Rajoy, and the leader of the Conservative PP Party claimed the procedure "responds to a pact between the US and EU of December 2011 and which the European Parliament approved last April but tied to flights originating and/or bound to the US.

Known as PNR, the agreement would, therefore, not apply to the case of Colombian journalist Hernando Calvo Ospina, who works for Le Monde Diplomatique and resides in Paris a quarter of a century now, considered El País.

Lat May 6 Calvo Ospina was grounded in Barajas Airport and lost a âé�744.00 flight because an official from the US Embassy prevented him from taking a straight flight to a third country, Cuba in this case, he reminds.

His claimed a refund to Air Europe but the Company refused to assume the liability "claiming his duty to carry and keep his documents handy and at the authorities reach".

The Spanish daily reminds the journalist passport was in order and he needed nothing else to fly to Havana, stressed the Spanish daily.

Source: Prensa Latina