The Department of Transportation announced it will begin a review of the data collection and privacy practices of the nation’s 10 largest airlines. The agency wants to ensure that passenger data is properly protected and not unethically sold to third parties.
“Airline passengers need to be confident that their personal information is not being inappropriately shared with third parties or mishandled by employees,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. ” he said. “This review of airline practices is the beginning of a new effort by DOT to ensure airlines properly manage sensitive passenger data.”
Airlines collect large amounts of biographical data when travelers book tickets. Name, date of birth, home address, gender, etc. But airlines are increasingly collecting other data as well, such as meal and seat preferences and in-flight entertainment choices.
“Because consumers often never know that their personal data has been misused or sold to shady data brokers, effective privacy regulations need to focus on consumers to identify corporate wrongdoing. Complaints cannot be relied upon. I will continue to work with DOT to ensure that airlines are held accountable for harmful or negligent privacy practices,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, who worked with DOT in developing the review. Rep. (Oregon) said in a statement.
As part of the review, DOT is seeking information in three categories:
- Airline policies and procedures regarding the collection, maintenance, handling, and use of personal information. This includes policies and procedures around passenger data monetization, targeted advertising, and data breach prevention.
- Complaints alleging that an airline employee or contractor mishandled personal information or that the airline violated an individual’s privacy.
- Information about privacy training, including materials used for training, types of personnel trained, and frequency of training.
Cruising altitude:Airlines don’t just want your money. Now they want more of your data.
DOT requested answers from the following airlines:
- loyalist
- alaska
- American
- delta
- frontier
- Hawaiian
- jet blue
- southwest
- spirit
- united
According to the DOT, the review is primarily a fact-finding effort to better understand how airlines are using passenger data, but in the long run, it will include best practices and more information on its use. The aim is to formulate detailed regulations.
“Once DOT finds evidence of questionable practices, the department will take action, which may mean investigations, enforcement actions, guidance, and rulemaking,” the department said in a statement.
Zach Wictor is a travel writer for USA TODAY based in New York. Please contact us at zwichter@usatoday.com.
