NOTE: Number in parenthesis denotes World Ranking in yearly passengers.
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1) Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport 66,542,474
3) O'Hare International Airport 48,691,216
7) Los Angeles International Airport 42,510,492
8) Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport 42,212,452
10) Denver International Airport 38,335,231
These top 5 United States Airports had 238,291,865 passengers from January to September 2009.
It is estimated that only 1% of ticket purchases are by cash (2,382,918 approx.), 99% by Credit Card (235,908,947 approx.).
The key overlooked fact by the Government is this:
Total cards in circulation in U.S. that can be used to purchase Air tickets.
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* Visa credit: 309 million, as of June 30, 2009 (Source: Visa.com)
* Visa debit: 352 million, as of June 30, 2009 (Source: Visa.com)
* MasterCard credit: 211 million, as of September 30, 2009 (Source: MasterCard.com)
* MasterCard debit: 130 million, as of September 30, 2009 (Source: MasterCard.com)
* American Express credit: 54 million, as of December 31, 2008 (Source: AmericanExpress.com)
* Discover credit: 57.1 million, as of December 31, 2008 (Source: Discover.com)
"According to the Terrorist Screening Center, there are less than 400,000 individuals on the consolidated terrorist watch list. Individuals on the no-fly and selectee lists are identified by law enforcement and intelligence partners as legitimate threats to transportation requiring either additional screening or prohibition from boarding an aircraft."
Credit Card processors can verify a passenger in a 'Minimum' of 1,113,100 or 1.1 Billion credit cards that can be used to instantly buy Airline tickets with little if any hassle, while the Federal Government cannot look up a person in a database of less than or equal to 400,000 people.
