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The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reportedly purchased more than a billion airline ticketing records from a data broker program set up in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to 404 Media.
The SEC obtained information from the Airlines Reporting Corporation's (ARC) Travel Intelligence Program (TIP), which collected passengers’ names, credit card information, and flight data from over 10,000 US-based travel agencies, including websites like Expedia, Kayak, and Priceline, and credit card rewards programs. It included information on domestic and international flights, as well as those between other countries.
ARC stopped selling airline ticketing records in late 2025 after 404 Media discovered that airlines sold 5 billion flight ticket records to multiple branches of the US government as part of a warrantless surveillance program, allowing agencies such as the FBI, ICE, and the IRS to access passengers’ personal and financial records.
404 Media recently obtained more information about what the SEC purchased through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. According to SEC documents, TIP had an alert service that delivered daily reports on specific people and any airline tickets they had purchased in the previous 24 hours.
"Whenever someone booked a flight with a travel agency like Expedia or Kayak, ARC received information about that booking and then resold it as part of its data broker business," 404 notes.
ARC has defended TIP as a way to "prevent criminal activity," 404 says. However, it raised concerns among lawmakers like Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who took credit for a 2024 Transportation Department investigation under President Biden into the privacy practices of 10 major airlines, including whether they illegally shared user data with other companies.
More than a year later, after President Trump returned to office, Sen. Wyden wrote to participating ARC airlines, requesting that they "immediately stop the sale of Americans’ travel records to government agencies."
Wyden noted that agencies seeking data on tickets booked directly through an airline would need a subpoena or a court order to obtain those records. Since ARC obtains its data through third parties, however, government agencies could "search through a database containing 50% of all tickets booked without seeking approval from a judge," the senator said at the time.
A day later, ARC said it would shut down TIP since it was "no longer aligned with ARC’s core goals of serving the travel industry."
ARC lists 252 airlines on its website, including Delta, American, JetBlue, and United.
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