VIRGINIA- The Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), a data clearinghouse jointly owned by major US airlines including American Airlines (AA), United Airlines (UA), and Delta Air Lines (DL), is providing passenger information to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under a secretive federal program.
These transactions, conducted via ARC’s Travel Intelligence Program, involve data on billions of flights globally and have raised concerns among privacy advocates.
Passenger data processed through ARC, headquartered near Washington D.C., includes information on flights into airports such as New York (JFK), Los Angeles (LAX), and Chicago (ORD), and is reportedly being sold to US government agencies.
The revelations, reported by Truthout, show that ARC’s proprietary data access has become a vital tool in federal investigations, particularly under the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.
Photo: Denver AirportUS Airlines Sells Passengers’ Data
The Travel Intelligence Program, a proprietary database maintained by ARC, grants federal agencies, including ICE, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Department of Defense, access to aggregated, real-time airline ticketing and travel data.
The dataset spans over 39 months and holds more than one billion records, allowing analysts to search by name or even credit card number.
Procurement documents published by ICE indicate that ARC is the only US entity capable of offering such comprehensive travel insights.
Unlike Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which collects records from individual airlines, ARC aggregates data from hundreds of carriers into a centralized system, enabling more efficient and expansive surveillance.
This aggregated structure not only simplifies data analysis but also enables tracking of past and future flight plans, a level of detail that law enforcement agencies typically cannot obtain through standard airline or travel agency records.
Representative Image | Photo: By Glenn Beltz from Goleta, USA – DSC_6369, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44952816Privacy Concerns
ARC’s dominant position in processing 54% of all global airline tickets means that most air travelers’ data has likely passed through its systems, even if they’ve never directly interacted with the company.
Booking a ticket through platforms like Expedia or Booking.com automatically routes data through ARC, placing personal and financial details into its database.
Consumer watchdogs, such as the American Economic Liberties Project, have long criticized ARC’s monopoly, emphasizing the lack of alternatives and inadequate oversight.
Bill McGee, a senior fellow at the organization, warned that the scale of data collection and its sale to government agencies is “rather chilling,” especially given the lack of public transparency and independent audits.
Privacy advocates such as Edward Hasbrouck and Jay Stanley from the ACLU expressed deep concern over the government’s use of the data, pointing out that neither airline nor travel agency privacy policies typically disclose ARC’s role.
The fact that ARC is now entering no-bid contracts with federal agencies raises alarms over civil liberties and unchecked surveillance.
Photo: Aero Icarus | FlickrHistorical Usage
While the latest contract with ICE was signed in 2023, records indicate that federal access to ARC’s travel database dates back to at least 2018.
The Department of Defense secured a similar agreement in 2017, and the Treasury Department did so in 2020.
Combined, ARC has received over $1.3 million from federal contracts in the last two years alone.
ICE’s increased reliance on ARC aligns with expanded immigration enforcement budgets under the Trump administration.
The lack of transparency regarding data use, retention policies, or privacy safeguards has intensified scrutiny of how such intelligence may be employed, particularly in deportation cases or politically motivated investigations.
Experts warn that this growing government access to detailed travel profiles poses a substantial threat to personal freedom, especially in the absence of meaningful public debate or regulatory oversight.
Photo: Aero Icarus | FlickrConclusion
Despite its critical role in global airline ticket processing and its direct data sharing with federal agencies, ARC remains virtually unknown to the average traveler.
Its deep integration into air travel infrastructure, combined with minimal public visibility and oversight, places enormous power into a private, industry owned consortium operating beyond traditional regulatory frameworks.
With expanding federal use and rising public awareness, ARC’s data practices are now under increased scrutiny.
Privacy advocates continue to call for clearer guidelines, transparency, and limitations on the use of passenger data to ensure civil liberties are not eroded in the name of national security.
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The post US Airlines Selling Passengers Data to ICE Through Secretive Program appeared first on Aviation A2Z.
