Eyes in the skies: Airlines want your private data

How can you tell what airlines are planning? Watch what their manufacturers are marketing. The latest airline expos show the future of flight includes surveillance — not jetpacks. But what happens when an industry that’s so good and nickel-and-diming its tightly-squeezed customers starts gobbling up private data?

If you thought the most invasive thing that could happen on a plane was the person in front of you reclining, think again. 

Airlines already collect and track your data via:

• Booking information: Including your name, email, phone number, passport details and payment information. The weight of your bag (and you, if you fly Air New Zealand) is tracked, too.
• Frequent flyer programs: Including your travel patterns, seat preferences, meal choices and other preferences. 
• Onboard Wi-Fi: Airlines track the sites you visit and how much time you spend online. 
• Customer service interactions: Whether it’s through social media, email or phone, those interactions are tracked.
• Partnerships: Airlines often partner with other companies, like car rental agencies or hotels.
• Biometric data: Some airlines use biometrics, like facial recognition technology, to streamline check-in. 
• App usage: They know how you use the app and where you are when you do it.

New planes will be built with even more in-flight tracking like:

• Seat sensors that can tell when you get up, what you’re drinking and when your cup is almost empty and may need a refill.
• Seatback displays that ask about your preferences, let you shop online and help you browse the internet.
• Attendant apps show the individual history of a passenger, their loyalty status, buying habits and what they complained about in the past.

Airlines claim that all of this data collection will provide a better experience for passengers, but is the extra convenience worth it? It certainly is for airlines. 

Ultimately, it’s not about your convenience

It’s about their bottom line. Airlines have repeatedly shown they don’t have passengers’ best interests in mind. 

Some airlines are starting to use data collection to decide which passengers to prioritize. And you’re more likely to get bumped if you don’t pay a premium. That breeds problems like unexpected meal shortages for lower-paying passengers.

Plus, there’s always a possibility an airline or its vendors will repackage your data and use or sell it for marketing purposes. Those are not the kind of frequent flyer points I want to earn.

So, what can you do?

Avoid signing up for extras if you don’t want airlines snooping around your activities. Whip out your Kindle, put in some earbuds with downloaded songs and order your cup of wine the old-fashioned way. Plus, don’t interact with airline apps. They’ll know much less about you.

You can also ask the airlines to remove your data. It’s a complicated, frustrating process, especially if you don’t live in California, Colorado or Virginia (these states have consumer privacy laws in place). No matter what state you live in, start by calling the airline’s customer service and asking them how to delete your data. 

And hey, it’s not all bad news. Technology can still improve flights without relying on our private data — like AI to help cut flight delays. Now that’s something a frequent flyer can appreciate!