Bush plan would collect data on families of flyers

Bush seeks armed guards on all flights from Europe

Proposal also asks for information on family members of flyers

President George W. Bush wants armed guards on all planes flying into the United States from Europe, according to a draft document circulating among the European Union's 27 member states.

According the document leaked to the Guardian, the administration also wants EU states to supply personal data on all air passengers flying over the United States even if they are not landing in America.

Further, the Administration is also demanding that European airlines provide personal data on non-travelers, such as family members who are allowed beyond departure barriers to help the elderly or infirm board jets embarking for America.

Some diplomats have called the proposal blackmail. The US has threatened to require west Europeans and Britons to have US visas to enter if their governments won't sign on.

But not everyone is biting.

"The Association of European Airlines, representing 31 airlines, including all the big west European national carriers, has told the US authorities that there is "no international legal foundation" for supplying them with data about passengers on flights overflying US territory," the Guardian says.

The US counters that some passengers "overflying" the US might get access to places beyond security checkpoints during stopover flights. Already, the Administration has a vast database that they mine for "suspected terrorists," which has unwitting delayed innocent passengers with the same names as suspects.

The US Department of Homeland Security has already created a system to deploy within months that will "impose a new permit system for Europeans flying to the US, compelling all travelers to apply online for permission to enter the country before booking or buying a ticket, a procedure that will take several days," the paper notes.

Bush could enlist smaller country to sign onto his new requirements and then use that state as a wedge to pressure other governments. It appears that Prague will accept the new US requirements.

A senior EU official told the paper the Americans could get "a gung-ho frontrunner" to sign up to the new regime and then use that agreement "as a rod to beat the other member states with."

Washington is also asking European airlines to provide personal data on non-travellers - for example family members - who are allowed beyond departure barriers to help elderly, young or ill passengers to board aircraft flying to America, a demand the airlines reject as "absurd".