airport discrimination

Hassled by TSA? FlyRights app helps you complain

A new app – FlyRights – offers a fast and easy way to complain about discrimination, profiling and other improper behavior by TSA officers at airport security checkpoints.

The app was created by the Sikh Coalition, which found that while only 11 complaints of improper screening by the TSA were filed during the first two quarters of 2011, many Sikh, Muslim, and South Asian travelers believe they are regularly profiled by TSA at airports.

At some airports, the coalition says, 100% of Sikh travelers report being subjected to unfair secondary treatment.

The Sikh coalition says it created the app “to bridge the gap between community frustration about airport profiling and official action,” and worked closely with civil rights groups in the Black, Latino, South Asian, Muslim communities to develop the tool.

The coalition says complaints filed through the app will be reviewed as official complaints by Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

DHS currently takes complaints on-line through the Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (TRIP).

On TSA.gov, travelers who feel they have been profiled or otherwise discriminated against at an airport checkpoint based on race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability or sexual orientation are encouraged to submit a written explanation of their complaint.

In addition to allowing travelers to file complaints on-the-spot rather than after the fact, the FlyRights app includes links that go directly to the section of the TSA website that lists the current rights and screening procedures for travelers.