US closes review of US airlines' data privacy without seeking penalties

The US Transportation Department has closed a Biden-era review of airlines' data privacy ⁠practiceswithout imposing penalties, ⁠according to a memo seen by Reuters on Monday, despite lawmaker complaints that carriers failed to safeguard and misused the information.

USDOT, ⁠which did not immediately comment Monday, said in the memo dated September 4 that it comprehensively evaluated the 10 biggest airlines' data privacy and "identified no violations of applicable laws or departmental policies."

Then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in March 2024 opened a review of how US airlines collect and use passenger information.

Senator Ron ⁠Wyden, ⁠who has urged USDOT to address privacy concerns, said, "DOT claims that merely having a privacy policy and training is good enough, despite clear evidence of privacy abuses."

In August, Wyden and Representative Shontel Brown said the Drug Enforcement Administration paid airline employees millions of dollars to ⁠obtain some Americans' data. A database jointly owned by big US airlines has also sold passenger records to government agencies like the IRS without warrants or court oversight, they said.

The department's memo said US airlines should avoid setting pricing based ⁠on ‌individual data. ‌It reminded airlines of ongoing responsibilities "to ⁠safeguard passenger data, adhere ‌to published privacy policies, and prevent unlawful discrimination in dynamic pricing practices."

Transportation Secretary ⁠Sean Duffy said last year ⁠he would quickly investigate any personalized pricing. Delta ⁠Air Lines has repeatedly denied it uses AI to set individualized prices.