● Covered by 1 source · 1 reportMedium impact1 neutral
SEC Purchased Global Airline Ticketing Data, Including International Flights
Key points
- SEC bought over a billion airline ticketing records from ARC.
- Data included passenger names, credit card numbers, and flight details.
- Records covered U.S. domestic, international, and foreign-to-foreign flights.
- ARC stopped selling this data after media and lawmaker pressure.
SEC's Data Acquisition
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) purchased access to more than a billion airline ticketing records from the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC). These records were not limited to U.S. domestic flights or those landing in the country, but also included flights between foreign countries. This information was revealed through SEC documents obtained by 404 Media via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
Details of the Data
The acquired data contained sensitive personal information for each passenger, including their name, the credit card number used for purchase, departure and arrival cities, flight dates, flight numbers, and the selling agency. ARC collected this data by acting as an intermediary between airlines and travel agencies, receiving booking information whenever a flight was booked through agencies like Expedia or Kayak, and then reselling it.
ARC's Travel Intelligence Program
ARC's data product, known as the Travel Intelligence Program (TIP), also offered a daily alert service. This service could send daily search results for specific names, reporting on any air ticketing purchased by those individuals within the prior 24 hours. The SEC required access to 1-25 daily searches through this alert service.
Cessation of Data Sales
ARC, which previously sold this data on behalf of airlines including Delta, United, and American, ceased selling airline ticketing records last year. This decision followed repeated coverage from 404 Media and pressure from lawmakers regarding the sale of such extensive personal data without customer knowledge, and its potential use by law enforcement agencies without warrants.
✨ This summary was generated by AI from the outlets' reporting listed below. It is not independently verified and may contain errors — check the original sources. How BrevFeed works →
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Reporting from
The SEC acquired access to over a billion airline ticketing records, encompassing domestic and international flights, from the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC). This data included passenger names, credit card numbers, and travel itineraries, raising concerns about privacy and government access to personal information without warrants.