Alert US Travelers Booking Trips with American, Delta, United, Southwest or Others Could Have Their Data Sold to Homeland Security – Travel And Tour World

If you’re booking a trip with American, Delta, United, Southwest, or any other major US airline, your personal travel data could be sold to Homeland Security — not by the airline directly, but through a quiet data-sharing pipeline most travelers have never even heard of. At the center of it all is Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), a company that handles billions of dollars in ticket sales for third-party booking sites. According to newly uncovered documents, ARC has been selling access to passenger records — including names, full travel itineraries, and financial transaction details — to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a division of the Department of Homeland Security. The most alarming part? This data is being collected daily, covers more than a billion trips, and is being shared with government agencies without notifying the public or giving travelers any choice in the matter.

You Book a Flight. Your Info Goes Somewhere You Didn’t Expect.

Imagine this: you’re just trying to book a simple flight. Maybe you’re flying out for a family reunion. Maybe it’s a work trip. You choose your airline, click through the booking site, enter your details, pay — and that’s that. Or so you think.

But what if that information — your name, your travel plans, your payment details — didn’t stay between you and the airline? What if it ended up in the hands of the federal government?

That’s not a what-if anymore. It’s already happening.

There’s a Quiet Deal Happening Behind the Scenes

According to a report, a company called Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC) has been selling access to passenger data to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) — the agency under Homeland Security that handles border security, immigration, and yes, even domestic travel monitoring.

And it’s not a small data leak. We’re talking billions of travel itineraries — including full names, where people are flying, and how they paid — getting sent to CBP on a daily basis.

You don’t see it. You don’t hear about it. But it’s happening behind your booking screen.

How Does Your Info Get Caught Up in This?

The catch is in how you book. This data doesn’t come from flights you book directly through the airline’s website. Instead, it’s pulled from third-party platforms — think online travel sites like Expedia or Orbitz, corporate travel portals, or agency bookings. ARC sits in the middle of those transactions, collecting your travel info as part of its job in the booking ecosystem.

What they didn’t tell you is that they’ve been sharing — or selling — that info to CBP. The government uses it to monitor travel patterns and identify “persons of interest.”

Here’s the kicker: you have no idea this is happening, and the agencies using the data? They’re not told where it came from either. It’s intentionally kept under wraps.

So Who’s ARC, and Why Should You Care?

ARC isn’t a household name, but it plays a massive role in airline ticketing and travel analytics. Behind the curtain, ARC works with all the major carriers and travel agencies to track sales, validate bookings, and manage data.

And guess who sits on their board of directors? Executives from American Airlines, Delta, United, Southwest, and others. That means the biggest names in US air travel are connected — at least indirectly — to the very company funneling your data to Homeland Security.

Are the airlines themselves handing it over? No, not directly. But if their leadership is on ARC’s board, they know what’s going on. Or they should.

Homeland Security Says It’s About Safety. But Who’s Watching Them?

CBP says this is all in the name of public safety. Their goal, according to statements they’ve given, is to support law enforcement and national security by tracking suspicious travel.

But here’s what they don’t explain: how tracking every-day, law-abiding travelers fits into that mission. And why no one thought passengers — the people whose data is being shared — should be told.

There’s no warning during booking. No checkbox. No privacy notice. Just silence.

This Isn’t Just About Security — It’s About Trust

Let’s be honest. This isn’t just a privacy concern — it’s a trust issue. Most people would be furious if they found out a booking site quietly passed their personal data to the government. But that’s exactly what’s been happening.

And because ARC is technically a third party, the airlines can keep their hands clean and say, “It wasn’t us.” But they’re still sitting at the same table.

You deserve better. You deserve to know what’s happening with your personal info — especially when it’s being sold to federal agencies.

Can You Avoid It?

Maybe. Booking directly through airline websites might reduce your exposure to this particular data-sharing deal, since ARC mainly handles third-party transactions. But even that’s not guaranteed. The truth is, there’s no clear way to opt out. No easy fix. Just a broken system where your data is quietly passed around in the name of security — without you ever being told.

If you’re booking trips with American, Delta, United, Southwest, or other US airlines through third-party sites, your travel data could be sold to Homeland Security because a company called ARC has been quietly providing passenger records to federal agencies without informing travelers.

Bottom Line: You Deserve to Know

If you’re flying American, Delta, United, Southwest — or really, any major US airline through a third-party site — your travel data could already be sitting in a government database.

This isn’t about paranoia. This is about consent. You didn’t agree to this. And you shouldn’t have to dig through investigative reports to find out it’s happening.

You have a right to fly without wondering who’s watching your itinerary.

And you sure as hell have a right to know when your data is being sold behind your back.

Source: USToday