American Airlines disclosed passenger data

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Sat, 10 Apr 2004 20:40:08 -0400 (EDT)
From: GLIGOR1 () aol com
Subject: American Airlines disclosed passenger data
To: dave () farber net



American Airlines disclosed passenger data

Last modified: April 10, 2004, 11:20 AM PDT
By <mip://04f7f678/2040-1096_3-0.html?tag=byline>Reuters

American Airlines' passenger names and travel itineraries were released to 
four research companies vying for contracts with the U.S. Transportation 
Security Administration, the airline disclosed on Friday.

AMR's American is the third U.S. airline to admit to turning over passenger 
data since the government tightened airline security following the Sept. 
11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The revelations have raised privacy concerns 
and sparked several lawsuits.

American said in a statement it had authorized one of its vendors to give a 
week's worth of passenger name records--about 1.2 million records--to the 
security agency in June 2002. Instead, the vendor, Airline Automation, gave 
the data to the four research companies.

American discovered the disclosures recently during a review that followed 
other carriers' announcements of data releases, the airline said.

"Our desire to assist TSA in the aftermath of the events of Sept. 11 was 
consistent with our focus on safety and security," American spokesman John 
Hotard said in a statement released late Friday afternoon.

"No passengers were harmed by the transfer of the data," Hotard said.

A TSA official said the agency was looking into the matter.

A passenger name record is created when a person makes a travel reservation 
and includes a name and travel itinerary.

Airline Automation required each company that received the data to sign a 
nondisclosure agreement and required the destruction or return of the data 
after the project was finished, American said.

Officials at Airline Automation could not immediately be reached for comment.

JetBlue Airways and Northwest Airlines have been hit with class-action 
suits following revelations they secretly gave passenger data to government 
researchers.

<mip://04f7f678/2106-1099-0.html>Story Copyright  © 2004 
<http://www.reuters.com/>Reuters Limited.  All rights reserved.

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