What Airlines Reporting Corporation (owned by U.S. airlines) does with your data

What it collects and does with your data

• ARC, owned by major U.S. airlines, sold CBP access to passenger names, itineraries, and payment details, and its contract told CBP not to reveal the source.
• TIP held more than one billion records spanning 39 months of past and future travel; ARC settles tickets for 200-plus airlines covering over 54% of flights globally; ICE also bought access.
• ARC told Congress it would sunset TIP by end of 2025.
• Senators Wyden and Brown wrote that ARC shut down the Travel Intelligence Program in November 2025, and that DHS has since asked contractors for a replacement passenger surveillance system.

Sensitive data

• travel itineraries
• payment card details

Enforcement and litigation

0 matters in the research. Where the research says alleged, pending, or settled without admitting wrongdoing, so does this page.

• No enforcement action found; congressional letters prompted shutdown announcement.

Who else holds your data

Organizations holding a copy of your data, as the research counts them: at least 4. Your airline, ARC, CBP, ICE.

Third parties: Named: CBP, ICE, other federal agencies

Companies the research links to Airlines Reporting Corporation (owned by U.S. airlines)

• United Airlines (MileagePlus / Kinective Media), reported. "United is among airline owners of ARC per EFF." "ARC, owned by major U.S. airlines, sold CBP access to passenger names, itineraries, and payment details, and its contract told CBP not to reveal the source." United co-owns ARC (EFF). The research does not establish that every United ticket is in ARC's program. ARC ended the program in November 2025, per a 2026-08-26 letter from Senators Wyden and Brown; whether records already sold were deleted is not known.

When you pick one of these companies' programs or apps in the calculator, Airlines Reporting Corporation (owned by U.S. airlines) is added to the organizations holding a copy of your data.

The research counts 4 for this record: your airline, ARC, CBP, ICE.

Data practices score

7 of 15. Five components, each 0 to 3. How the score works

Sells or shares

3

Enforcement

0

Retail media scale

0

Sensitive data

1

Opt-out friction

3

Estimated emissions for one person

Research gaps

• Whether records already sold to CBP, ICE and other agencies were deleted.
• Revenue from TIP.