Keith Kagehiro just returned from a weeklong trip to West Virginia and doesn't like the idea of airline and federal health officials keeping track of his personal information — unless he was exposed to a contagious disease onboard an airplane.

"That's a touchy subject and I kind of disagree with that," said Kagehiro of 'Ewa Beach. "I wouldn't want them keeping my records. But if I was exposed to something like bird flu, then I'd want to know about that and I guess that would make me change my mind."

On Tuesday, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released proposed rules that would give the federal government new powers to track the coming and goings of airline passengers, including more scrutiny of passengers for signs of illness and greater efforts to obtain personal contact information.

The proposals broaden the list of symptoms that would make passengers subject to quarantine and would ask passengers for additional information, such as phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Airlines would be required to maintain the information and passengers' seat information for 60 days and transmit it to the CDC within 12 hours of a request. The agency would destroy the information after a year.

Passengers could refuse to give the information and still travel.

According to the CDC, the primary costs of the proposed changes would arise from a need to modify carriers' computer systems to collect and maintain crew manifest data and passenger information.

Wendy Goodenow, president of the Hawai'i chapter of the American Society of Travel Agents, said she would oppose efforts to pass the possible costs on to travelers.

"They won't do it if I can help it," Goodenow said.

She has yet to hear any complaints from travelers over the proposed rules — or have any passengers cancel trips because of fears of contagious diseases.

In the travel industry, she said, fear of diseases such as bird flu fall well below other issues, such as the effects of rising fuel costs.

But Goodenow, president and owner of HNL Travel, did express concerns when one of her employees made upcoming plans to travel to Vietnam.

"I haven't had anybody cancel because of avian flu," Goodenow said. "But I did tell her, 'I hope you're taking anti-bacterial sanitizer and will practice common sense. Whatever this epidemic could be, it may start with animals so stay away.' "

Keoni Wagner, spokesman for Hawaiian Airlines, said, "Like everybody else, we are just beginning to really study the issue and trying to get a sense of risks.

"We have general procedures in place for handling ill passengers on board that we're basically looking to use and adapt for this situation. By and large, the airlines are all looking at their procedures and augmenting some training for flight crews to be able to discern potential cases on board."

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.