To get off the FBI’s No Fly List, you file an inquiry through the Department of Homeland Security Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (DHS TRIP), respond to any confirmation letter the government sends you, and, if the administrative process fails, petition a federal Court of Appeals for review. The process is slow, the evidence against you is largely classified, and the outcome is far from guaranteed. But there is a defined path, and recent Supreme Court decisions have strengthened the legal tools available to people fighting placement.
First, Confirm You’re Actually on the List
Most travelers who get pulled aside at an airport are not on the No Fly List. Their names simply resemble someone who is. Over the years, a sitting U.S. senator, young children, and even federal air marshals have been flagged because of partial name matches to a watchlist entry.
If you were delayed or subjected to extra screening but eventually allowed to board, you were almost certainly not on the No Fly List. You may have matched the Selectee List, a separate subset of the Terrorist Screening Database that triggers enhanced screening rather than a boarding ban.1Transportation Security Administration. Security Screening The distinction matters: selectees get patted down, No Fly individuals never see the jet bridge.
The No Fly List itself imposes a total ban on boarding any commercial flight within, to, from, or over the United States.2Transportation Security Administration. DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program When TSA’s Secure Flight program matches your information to a No Fly record, the airline is instructed not to issue you a boarding pass. You are typically met by law enforcement and told, in plain terms, that you cannot fly. If that has happened to you, the removal process below is the one you need.
The government does not publish the list, and DHS has said it generally cannot confirm or deny whether any individual is on the watchlist.3Department of Homeland Security. DHS TRIP Frequently Asked Questions For most people, being turned away at the gate is the only confirmation they ever get.
File a DHS TRIP Inquiry
DHS TRIP is the formal channel for challenging any travel-screening problem, including No Fly List placement.4U.S. Department of Homeland Security. DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (DHS TRIP) You start by submitting a Traveler Inquiry Form on the DHS TRIP online portal. The form asks for your full name, date of birth, and a description of what happened during screening.
Once you submit, the system assigns you a seven-digit Redress Control Number (RCN).3Department of Homeland Security. DHS TRIP Frequently Asked Questions You can enter this number when booking future flights. For travelers who were caught by a name-similarity false positive, the RCN alone often solves the problem, because airlines can use it to distinguish you from the actual watchlist entry. For anyone truly on the No Fly List, the RCN is only the beginning: DHS TRIP forwards your complaint to the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center for review.
Respond to the Confirmation Letter
If the Terrorist Screening Center determines that a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident is on the No Fly List, DHS TRIP sends a letter confirming that status and inviting the person to submit additional information. This notification exists because of the 2014 federal court ruling in Latif v. Holder, which found that the previous system violated due process by giving listed individuals no meaningful way to challenge placement. The court ordered the government to provide, at minimum, notice of listing, an unclassified summary of the reasons, and an opportunity to respond.
After the first letter arrives, you can submit a written response with supporting evidence rebutting the government’s determination. The government may then send a second letter identifying the general basis for placement and an unclassified summary of the reasoning. The Terrorist Screening Center’s redress office reviews your submission in coordination with the nominating agency and decides whether to keep you on the list or take you off. When the review concludes, a final determination letter is uploaded to your DHS TRIP portal account.3Department of Homeland Security. DHS TRIP Frequently Asked Questions
Expect the process to take months. And expect frustration. The government is not required to share the classified evidence underlying its decision, so you are arguing against a case you cannot fully see. The unclassified summary is often thin. Still, this administrative record is what a federal court will eventually review if you go further, so a serious response matters.
Petition a Federal Court of Appeals
If the administrative process ends against you, the next step is judicial review. Under 49 U.S.C. § 46110, a person with a substantial interest in an order issued by the TSA Administrator can file a petition for review in a U.S. Court of Appeals.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 49 USC 46110 – Judicial Review You can file in the D.C. Circuit or in the circuit where you live.
The petition must be filed within 60 days of the final order. The court may extend that deadline if you show reasonable grounds for the delay, but do not count on it. The court reviews the TSA’s factual findings under a “substantial evidence” standard, which asks whether a reasonable person could have reached the same conclusion on the record before the agency. If you win, the court can affirm, modify, or set aside the order, and it can direct the agency to conduct further proceedings.
One important limit: § 46110 applies to orders issued by the TSA Administrator. If your challenge targets the FBI or the Terrorist Screening Center for the initial nomination decision rather than TSA’s enforcement of it, courts have held that § 46110 does not apply, and you may need to bring a different kind of lawsuit.6United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Fikre v. FBI, No. 20-35904 (2022) Choosing the right defendant and the right statute is a job for a lawyer with watchlist litigation experience.
Two Recent Supreme Court Rulings Worth Knowing
Two decisions have reshaped what you can ask a court to do.
In Tanzin v. Tanvir (2020), the Supreme Court unanimously held that individuals who were placed on the No Fly List in retaliation for refusing to serve as FBI informants could sue the responsible agents personally for money damages under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.7Supreme Court of the United States. Tanzin v. Tanvir, No. 19-71 (2020) The government had argued RFRA only permitted injunctive relief. The Court disagreed, opening a route to financial accountability for individual agents who misuse the list.
In FBI v. Fikre (2024), the Court addressed a tactic the government had used repeatedly: quietly removing a plaintiff from the No Fly List after a lawsuit was filed, then arguing the case was moot because the person could fly again. The Court rejected that argument, holding that the government bears a “formidable burden” to prove a case is moot after voluntarily changing course, and that a vague assurance the plaintiff would not be relisted based on “currently available information” was not enough.8Supreme Court of the United States. FBI v. Fikre, No. 22-1178 (2024) If the government removes you mid-litigation, your case can still proceed.
What Placement Affects Beyond the Airport
Getting off the list matters for reasons that reach past flying.
When a federally licensed firearms dealer runs a background check through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, the system queries a subset of the Terrorist Screening Database. A match triggers an automatic delay and routes the transaction to a specialized examiner who coordinates with the Terrorist Screening Center.9Department of Justice. Statement on NICS and Terrorist Screening Database The dealer is not told a watchlist hit caused the delay. Being on the watchlist alone is not a legal basis to deny a firearm sale under current federal law; if the check reveals no independent disqualifier, the transfer can proceed after the statutory waiting period. Congress has debated “no fly, no buy” legislation for years without enacting it.
Trusted traveler programs like Global Entry and TSA PreCheck are effectively closed to anyone flagged in the TSDB. The published eligibility criteria include a catch-all denying applicants who cannot satisfy CBP of their low-risk status.10U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Eligibility for Global Entry Existing memberships are typically revoked when someone is added to the watchlist.
None of these downstream consequences has its own removal process. Fixing them requires fixing the underlying listing, which brings you back to DHS TRIP and, if necessary, federal court.