Airlines Selling Passengers Data To Trump's ICE

[RAMROD 118,006]

massive aviation industry clearinghouse that processes data for twelve billion passenger flights per year is selling that information to the Trump administration amid the White House’s new immigration crackdown, according to documents reviewed by the Lever.

The data — including “full flight itineraries, passenger name records, and financial details, which are otherwise difficult or impossible to obtain” for past and future flights — is fed into a secretive government intelligence operation called the Travel Intelligence Program and provided to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies, records reveal.

Details of this program were outlined in procurement documents released Wednesday by ICE, which is a division of the Department of Homeland Security.

Privacy and travel industry experts interviewed by the Lever said that law enforcement’s access to such a vast database — with little information on what privacy or other restrictions are in place — raises serious civil liberties concerns.

“This is probably the single most significant aggregated repository of data about American air travelers,” said Edward Hasbrouck, an expert in travel data privacy. “That the government has gotten access to it is a very big deal.”

When a passenger buys a flight through a travel agency — including via common online booking sites like Booking.com or Expedia — the transaction is fed through the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), which acts as an intermediary between travel agencies and airlines.

So, although most airline passengers have never heard of the ARC, there’s a good chance that their data has, at some point, passed through the company. Its dataset includes information on 54 percent of all flights taken globally, according to the company’s website.

In a statement to the Lever, a spokesperson for the company said that the Travel Intelligence Program “was established after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to provide certain data to law enforcement . . . for the purpose of national security matters” and criminal investigations.

The spokesperson declined to answer questions about whether clients outside the US government have access to the data.

The company is jointly owned by nine major airlines, most of which are US-based: Delta, Southwest, United, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, JetBlue, Air Canada, Lufthansa, and Air France. But more than two hundred airlines settle tickets through the ARC, giving the company unparalleled, comprehensive access to passenger data.

The company claims to manage the database in partnership with the International Air Transport Association, the primary lobbying group for airlines.

Consumer advocates have already been concerned about the monopoly that the ARC has established over airline passenger data. Because no other comparable financial clearinghouse exists in aviation, there’s no alternative for travel agencies or consumers to use instead.

“[The company] has long had a virtual monopoly on processing airline bookings,” explained Bill McGee, a senior fellow for aviation and travel at the American Economic Liberties Project, a consumer protection watchdog organization. Through this, McGee explained, the ARC “collects massive amounts of personal data on consumers, including information on finances, travel itineraries, shopping patterns.”

“To hear that ARC is now selling such personal information to the government is rather chilling,” McGee said.

The Lever contacted each of the nine airlines that are shareholders of the ARC for this story. United Airlines declined to comment, referring questions instead to the Department of Homeland Security; the others did not reply.

The ARC provides this data to ICE and Department of Homeland Security analysts through the Travel Intelligence Program, which is described in the documents as proprietary software.

https://jacobin.com/2025/05/airlines-data-ice-trump-immigration/

[ALGAYDO 35,404]

What the actual ****?

[Lord Mayhem 3,595]

How is everyone so afraid to just say no to Trump? Do people not understand basic decency? 

[Flippy 14,623]

I swear

[SpadesToStart 3,853]

The way personal data is just traded about in all industries is disgusting. The fact that there are data clearing houses in the first place and we don’t have legislative protections against this kind of thing is ridiculous. Too bad Congress is both run by geriatrics and bought by lobbyists.

[FfFfFfFF 58,743]

I absolutely don't think this is the first time airlines sold customers's data.

[Ilia Malinin 3,084]

this feels highly illegal imo

[Ziggy 14,297]

what a terrible idea to boost tourism but an amazing one to tank it.

[Ilia Malinin 3,084]

catch my american citizen, england-born ass never flying on a plane again