Once they figure out you used your middle name instead of your regular name..... I see you getting tackled & tased by airport security (and possibly an air marshal) & then dragged off to an airport interrogation room trussed up like a christmas goose.

The point being that they are going to be VERY suspicious of you for using part of your name that ISN'T on a no-fly list & are going to be treating you like a potential terrorist that has tried to fool them.

I still don't see how even the first step in getting a flight on a plane (your ticket purchase credit card transaction) could be completed without a full name, as it is shown on the card and has to match the credit card companies data base. My middle initial, like most other peoples', is on my card, not my middle name.
I believe I read somewhere that those airline ticket purchases are now tied into a Homeland Security data base. Everything else, including your ticket and boarding pass would have to match the full name on your passport or other picture ID for example at the TSA airport checkpoints.
Not only that, but when you present only your partial name to the immigration and customs officials upon your arrival in a foreign country (assuming TSA didn't catch the discrepancy before your departure), you may then run the risk of not being able to leave their jurisdiction until it's cleared up. You're on their turf and their rules at that point.

My middle name could be a first name but my son's middle name is more of a last name.

This system probably won't stop a genuine terrorist either. Most of the jihadi who would be the ones carrying out a mission would most likely be completely unknown to a monolithic dinosaur like the TSA. So if they happened to use an alias that we were aware of then they might get stopped. But given how many of the common names like Mohammed and Ali are used so frequently in the Muslim world, the likelyhood that flagging one of them would result in a terrorist capture would be close to nil.

@Tank: This annoys me when people say, "you're giving them ideas" to even the most simple things. It also provides very convenient political cover not to disclose anything.

These guys simultaneously boarded four planes and rammed them into three buildings (and tried for a fourth). They coordinated money, visas, renting houses, pilot training, false identities and countless other details.

Do you honestly think it hasn't crossed any of their minds since then to use other/fake names or identities?

@mkguitar: I go by my middle name. Its on all my credit cards for that reason (First Middle Last). I still have to book flights under my first name or I wind up with problems. I think the key in this story is to book first and middle, that way it can differentiate.

For general information and entertainment. COMPUSA used to proctor the TSAs first round of screening exams for new employees.

We were flying internatioanlly he was denied boarding...his ticket said Alan XXXXX his passport said Francis Alan XXXXX.

Our employer had to purchase another ticket as Francis Alan XXXXX

His photo matched, he produced his TX DL F. Alan XXXXX, his credit cards say Alan XXXXX

The security team was not able to process this information.

It's all a joke- which we all know.

MK

ABOLISH THE TSA. Simple, efficient, and it'd work. Going by the statistics, we're no safer with them than we were before them. And I don't know of anyone who would miss them.

This whole thing reminds me of the Python version of the Spanish Inquisition.

"Talk, will you talk, damn you!"
"But it hurts!"
"Oh, well then loosen it up a bit."

I was laughing about this until I realized I helped pay for it.

@B: damnit B, you beat me to it! nice one!

I've gone by my middle name since birth... so yeah, it is possible.

So that would be the Homeland STRIP ??? Nice

@jaredharley:

durka durka muhammad jihad...

Also re another comment about kiosks and names, my credit card is issued under first initial + last name, and I've never had any trouble checking in.

not til they read this anyway

We all know terrorists can't read English...

You'd better believe that the moment authorities catch even ONE GUY legitimately on the list, they'll be all over the news channel to tell the public about it.

If the only people they catch are the false positives, then what's the point of doing it in the first place?

A possible downside to this is that you may not be able to easily check in at the kiosks. (That is if you don't print your boarding pass online)

The kiosks read your name from a credit card or ID. They may not match "Elvis Aaron Presley" to "Aaron Presley," requiring a trip to the check in counter.

This happened while traveling with a friend. Last name spelled wrong - and added 20 minutes in line.

@selianth: My husband commonly uses his middle name and a lot of his credit cards, prescriptions etc. use it.

When I book our plane tickets I put his first and middle in the first name blank, even though his drivers license shows first name and middle initial. He never has a problem checking in that way.

@selianth: My drivers license has my full name...

I guess you would have to use a different form of ID at that point.

I'm thinking that if you were on the no-fly list and got hassled every time you flew, you would go ahead and use your passport for convenience sake...

funny, i was having a conversation with my girlfriend this morning about the benefits of having a middle name.

case in point.

not til they read this anyway