Airline and Vessel and Traveler Information Collection
(42 CFR Part 71)
(OMB Control No. 0920-XXXX)
Request for New Information Collection
Submitted 13JAN2017
B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods
B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods 2
1. Respondent Universe and Sampling Methods 2
2. Procedures for the Collection of Information 2
3. Methods to Maximize Response Rates and Deal with No Response 3
4. Tests of Procedures or Methods to be Undertaken 3
5. Individuals Consulted on Statistical Aspects and Individuals Collecting and/or Analyzing Data 3
No statistical methods are used in this data collection.
The collection of accurate, timely, and complete contact information from airlines and maritime vessels and travelers, via manifest orders, enables Quarantine Officers in CDC’s Division of Global Migration and Quarantine (DGMQ) to notify state and local health departments in order for them to make contact with individuals who may have been exposed to a communicable disease during travel and identify appropriate next steps.
Specific provisions in the Final Rule at 42 CFR 71.4 and 42 CFR 71.5 clarify that CDC, as the federal public health authority, has explicit authority require that airlines and ships provide to CDC, within 24 hours, specific PII and contact information on travelers to prevent the introduction and spread of disease into the United States and between the states and possessions. CDC currently carries out these activities under broad general authority provided by 42 CFR 71.32 for both international air and maritime arrivals. CDC anticipates that, while this is not a new practice, the listing of specific variables in specific regulatory provisions, will improve the submission of more timely, accurate, and complete traveler contact information by air and maritime companies
The description of the information collection following below is aligned with current practices.
In the event that a communicable disease is identified in a traveler aboard an airline or maritime vessel, and the disease presents a risk to co-passengers or crew, a CDC Quarantine Station staff member prepares the manifest order and cover letter templates and receives official approval to email or fax the order and cover letter to the appropriate airline or maritime vessel company point of contact.
In the event that advanced notice to the airline or maritime vessel operator is needed in extremely pressing cases of infectious diseases, an informal manifest request template is sent, which is followed as soon as possible by the formal order. If the airline or maritime vessel operator responds to the informal request prior to the formal order, CDC will follow up with a formal receipt of manifest letter for the airline’s or maritime operator’s records.
The list of specific data elements provided in the Final Rule is:
Full name (last, first, and, if available, middle or others);
Date of birth;
Sex;
Country of residence;
If a passport is required; passport number, passport country of issuance, and passport expiration date;
If a travel document, other than a passport is required, travel document type, travel document number, travel document country of issuance and travel document expiration date;
Address while in the United States (number and street, city, state, and zip code), except that U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents will provide address of permanent residence in the U.S.(number and street, city, state, and zip code; as applicable);
Primary contact phone number to include country code;
Secondary contact phone number to include country code;
Email address;
Airline name;
Flight number;
City of departure;
Departure date and time;
City of arrival;
Arrival date and time; and
Seat number for all passengers
CDC also requests seat configuration for the requested contact area (example: AB/aisle/CDE/aisle/FG, bulkhead in front of row 9).
Each order contains the specific pieces of data CDC requires for each passenger at risk given the risk posed by the communicable disease. For airlines, CDC has developed standard operating procedures (SOPs) for several infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis and meningococcal disease. These SOPs detail in which seats with respect to the ill traveler passengers were at greatest risk for infection. Some SOPs for highly communicable or highly concerning diseases specify that a larger portion of the airplane, or even all passengers and crew, should be included in the manifest submission to CDC.
Ebola for instance, calls for the entire manifest, regardless of airplane size. In the case of measles and rubella, the entire manifest is requested if the airplane is less than 50 seats.
Manifest requests for maritime conveyance manifest requests also depend on the communicable disease in question as well as dynamics of contact between travelers, e.g. did the ill traveler have a cabin mate, dine with the same people, or if it was a child, stay in daycare.
Once CDC receives the manifest information, CDC works with the Department of
Homeland Security to cross check passenger information with federal databases in order to ensure the most accurate contact and locating data is available. The information is compiled into a clean data set and each state health department receives pertinent identifying and contact information for those travelers residing in their state.
CDC uses the secure Epi-X system to provide the passenger or crew information to the state health departments. After the secure Epi-X message is sent, the CDC Quarantine Stations with jurisdiction for those states send a second notification to the state health departments by email to ensure that they are aware of the Epi-X notification and have the information necessary to perform the contact investigation as well as the appropriate optional outcome reporting form (OMB Control Number 0920-0900: Contact Investigation Outcome Reporting Forms) to send the investigation results back to CDC.
Response to this data collection is required. However, the information requested has been kept to the absolute minimum in order to minimize the public burden. CDC has also worked with airline and maritime conveyance partners to ensure the reporting burden is limited to that necessary to locate and notify potentially exposed passengers or crew.
CDC is seeking this information collection in association with a Final Rule and within the scope of current activities and authorities. The manifest order process are parts of the core public health activities of the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, and the division works closely with the airlines and maritime vessels to ensure that manifest are submitted when ordered. The protocols and electronic systems used for this data collection are continually updated and improved for quality of data collection and ease of use for both the public, industry and CDC program administrators.
Not Applicable
| File Type | application/msword |
| Author | IJE7 |
| Last Modified By | Zirger, Jeffrey (CDC/OD/OADS) |
| File Modified | 2017-01-13 |
| File Created | 2017-01-13 |