The next time you fly to the US, keep in mind that the authorities on the other side will have learnt lots about you before you are even at cruising altitude. In all, they might have 34 items of information about you. They'll know where you are staying, who is travelling with you, what meal you requested on the plane and where you are flying to next., writes Shane Hegarty
They might know what company you work for, what language you speak, whether you need a wheelchair. Then, when you get to the other side, you will learn if they are happy to let you in to the country.
Some 11 million people from the EU cross the Atlantic every year and since September 11th, 2001, the US has been demanding information on travellers to its shores. An agreement has been reached between the European Commission and US authorities, although the European Parliament remains concerned that this breaches privacy laws and has asked the European Court of Justice to have look at it.
The information is known as Passenger Name Record (PNR) and is supplied by the airlines. As part of the deal, the US has agreed to introduce a special filter to restrict its access to any data that reveals race, religion or health. It originally wanted to keep the records for 50 years, but has agreed to limit that to three and a half years.
The US has also promised that the information will be used only to combat terrorism and international crime, although civil rights groups fear that it could be used for general police work.
In between are the airlines. Some, including Aer Lingus, already pass data to the US authorities rather than risk fines imposed on any that don't supply the information within 15 minutes of a flight taking off. Some airlines have been voluntarily passing on this information as far back as eight years ago. This agreement means that the US authorities will now be able to access airline computer systems at their own discretion.
We will soon know what effect it will have. It has emerged that the delays caused to several British Airways and Lufthansa flights into Washington in February were a result of the checking of passenger information, although some have speculated that this was a deliberate tactic to show airlines that non-compliance could mean gridlock in the future. Perhaps predictably, British Airways has said that the cost of providing extra staff to meet the demands will lead to higher fares.
Ironically, no such agreement has been reached within the US, where the issue is highly contentious. The revelation that three airlines - Northwest, American and Jetblue - were among those that have already passed on PNR data to the authorities caused uproar last year.
Of the list of 34 items, most are likely to go unfilled. If you don't request a meal, for instance, or if you don't book by Internet, then your e-mail address might not feature.
But what is most obvious, is that you should hope none of the information they receive on you is incorrect, or you may have a very short holiday indeed.