The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced steps to solve the delay faced by airline passengers who are prevented from checking in for flights remotely because their names are "similar" to someone on a DHS terrorist watch list.

Due to this terrorist watch list name confusion, thousands of passengers are needlessly forced to stand in line at airport ticket counters, rather than checking in and getting their boarding passes online or at remote kiosks.

To solve the problem, DHS has decided to provide the airlines with "limited biographical data" from the terrorist watch list database, thus allowing the airlines to create their own systems to securely store and pre-verify a passenger’s date of birth and clear up watch list misidentifications.

"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," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in a press release. "Thousands of passengers are inconvenienced each day, and this change should provide a way to eliminate the vast majority of these situations. This is good for travelers and for security, because as we make the checkpoint environment calmer, it becomes easier to spot individuals with hostile intent."

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