U.S. Orders Airline Passenger Data by Nov. 23
632568
The U.S. government said on Friday  it was giving airlines until Nov. 23 to turn over information  on millions of people who took domestic flights in June to test  a new system for identifying passengers who may pose security  risks.
260040
(InfoWorld) - An agreement sheltering airlines from European privacy laws, allowing them to hand over passenger data required by U.S. authorities, expired Saturday, leaving most European airlines in legal limbo. NoÂ disruption to flightsÂ has been reported so far. However, if the legal void remains for more than a week or so, airlinesÂ face being suedÂ by individuals or groups in Europe, said Chris Kuner, a data protection specialist with the law firm Hunton & Williams. In the wake of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. authorities demanded that airlines hand over passenger information covered by European Union data protection legislation. Airlines faced prosecution in the E.U. if they delivered the data, or fines in the U.S. if they don't. An agreement struck between the E.U. and U.S. in 2003 protected airlines from being sued for sharing the information, which includes names, addresses and credit card details. However, Europe's top court overturned the agreement in May and said it would become legally void at the end of last month. Efforts to negotiateÂ a replacement agreement intensified throughout September, but despite assurances of progress from both sides, the talks ended in impasse Saturday, as the deadline passed. As talks broke up, U.S. Secretary for Homeland Security Michael Chertoff made a draft proposal that European officials said may be discussed at a meeting of European justice ministers in Luxembourg on Friday. The Commission hopes an agreement will be reached that day. British Airways said that a Air Navigation Order issued by the U.K. government protects it legally in the absence of a new agreement. "The order from the government supercedes European data protection laws," said spokesman Richard Goodfellow. Air France spokeswoman Veronique Brachet said that although she was unaware of the French government issuing a similar order, her company would continue to supply the data to U.S. authorities and foresaw no disruption to its transatlantic flights. "The European Commission has said we can fly to the United States, so I see no problem," she said. Karim Retzer, a data protection specialist at the law firm Morrison & Foerster said airlines are unlikely to be sued. But Kuner, the lawyer with Hunton & Williams, warned that if the legal situation isn't resolved swiftly there is a danger that European data protection authorities will be forced to take action against the airlines. "The European Commission will probably ask the national data protection authorities (DPAs) not to take action, and will assure them that a new agreement is imminent, but if they fail to secure a new agreement within a week or so, there is a very real risk that a privacy group or even an individual passenger may lodge a formal complaint. This would force the DPA to take action," Kuner said. If a complaint was lodged then the DPA would order the airlines to withhold the information from U.S. authorities. If the airline obeyed then it would face fines of up to $6,000 per passenger in the U.S., and the possible withdrawal of landing rights there, Kuner said. Kuner said he was surprised by the failure to renegotiate the original agreement in time for the deadline at the end of September. "We were given the impression that it was simply a matter of changing the legal basis of the first agreement, and that no attempts to change the substance of the deal would be made," he said. However, last month Chertoff said the original agreement obstructed his efforts to maintain a high level of security. The agreement allowed for 34 categories of information to be handed over. The U.S. has been pushing to increase this number during the negotiations over the past month. "Chertoff is in a much stronger position to negotiate," Kuner said, adding: "He doesn't face any legal issues in the U.S., so he doesn't feel the same pressure to reach an agreement that his European counterparts feel."
72547
U.S. factory orders rose at the  fastest rate in four months during November as strong demand  for new commercial aircraft pushed business up by 1.2 percent  to a seasonally adjusted $377.42 billion, the Commerce  Department said on Tuesday.
453533
U.S. airlines, after a Christmas  weekend that snarled thousands of travelers' holiday plans,  will face a government review of whether they are living up to  customer service commitments made five years ago, the U.S.  Transportation Department's top auditor said on Monday.
481707
The United States has reassured the  European Union that it will continue to apply restrictions on  the way it uses air passenger data until the two sides conclude  a new agreement, an EU spokesman said on Wednesday.
617871
TSA will collect domestic passenger records for June 2004; data will be used to test program aiming to hunt for terrorists. -The Washington Post
7820
The airline did nothing wrong when it shared passenger data related to the Sept. 11 attacks, the agency rules.
109196
A company owned by international  airlines said on Wednesday it had won approval from the United  States for a system providing passenger details to U.S. border  authorities almost instantaneously.
396859
The US Federal Communications Commission has approved a plan to allow airlines to offer in-flight wireless data service, although it may be some time before such service becomes commercially available.
546635
Frequent Fliers on Finnair will be get flight info and seat assigments as text messages on their cells. Once they reply, they are checked in.
680105
The United States said it had approved a draft deal on the transfer of airline passenger data after negotiations with the European Union to avert a showdown that could have paralyzed transatlantic traffic.
678243
The Transportation Security Administration last week moved forward with plans to test its new Secure Flight passenger-screening system.
457887
The U.S. government wants airlines  to turn over information on the millions of people who traveled  in June to test a new system for identifying passengers who may  pose a security risk, officials said on Tuesday.
106285
Nearly all air travelers entering the U.S. will be required to show passports beginning Jan. 23, including returning Americans and people from Canada and other nations in the Western Hemisphere.
98327
The government will analyze millions of U.S. passenger records in a first step toward creating a computerized screening system to protect the airlines from terrorist attack.
218527
The latest agreement allows many more U.S. government agencies to access data about passengers flying to the U.S. from Europe, including details such as a passenger's name, address and credit card information.
627652
(InfoWorld) - A failure by the U.S. and European Union to reach a new agreement next month on the provision passenger data for transatlantic flights could ground up to 105,000 people each week, the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) director general said Thursday. The two sides need to reach a new accord by the end of September, after the European Court of Justice ruled in May that the current agreement is unacceptable. That agreement calls for airlines to provide U.S. authorities with the names, addresses, ticket payment details, and telephone numbers of passengers on U.S.-bound flights. The EU'sÂ highest court ruledÂ that there was no "appropriate legal basis" for the deal, and said it would cease to be valid from October. If a new agreement isn't reached before then, airlines will be forced to decide whether to continue providing the information in violation of European privacy law, withhold the information in violation of U.S. law, orÂ ground flights to avoid breaking any law, said Giovanni Bisignani, director general and CEO of IATA, at a news conference in Tokyo. "I hope that there will be an agreement because I know that the cooperation between the Homeland Security and European Union is strong and effective," he said. "I think there is time to find a decision," Bisignani said. "It's not up to me to say which is the best decision. It's up to me to say I look forward to increased cooperation and increased discussion between the two parties because we cannot be in a situation on Sept. 30 when we have to make the decision which law to break." Bisignani's comments came two days after U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff wrote in The Washington Post that the U.S. needs continued access to the personal information on passengers, and also wants the rules relaxed on how the information can be used. The US Customs and Border Protection receives the information regularly, he wrote, but cannot share it freely with investigators in other Department of Homeland Security divisions, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or with the Federal Bureau of Investigations -- "never mind with our allies in London." "This information might yet identify associates of those arrested in the plot in Britain, but the rules blind us in routinely searching for that connection," Chertoff wrote. The U.S. says the data allows them to identify certain passengers for additional screening when they arrive in the U.S. while reducing the amount of time spent on screening low-risk passengers.