You read that correctly. Thanks to a recent acquisition, personal passenger information from eight major US airlines is now being shared with the Department of Homeland Security’s US Customs and Border Protection branch.
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And that data will be used primarily by one subsect of the CBP: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, aka ICE.
This won’t change the flying experience for the average American traveler, but it’s an unprecedented decision by US airlines, and it concerns your personal data, so it’s worth covering. Here’s what you need to know.
Passenger data comes from Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC)
Personal passenger data comes from the Airlines Reporting Corporation or ARC. The ARC is owned by Delta, Southwest, United, American, Alaska, Canada, Lufthansa, and Air France.
It’s responsible for storing global airline tickets that contain passenger information, including names, financial details, and flight itineraries. Why hold onto that information?
That data can be used for statistical reporting and settlements, for example. It helps airlines learn more about flyers, which helps them improve and streamline operations, amongst many other benefits.
But the ARC’s data includes a Travel Intelligence Program (TIP), which was created post-9/11 to provide data to certain law enforcement branches in the US. In May 2025, the TIP database was acquired by the Department of Homeland Security, meaning it can be used by CBP and ICE. The DHS has access to the TIP until May 2028.
To summarize: passenger data that has been used by eight international airlines for settlement and statistical reporting was sold to ICE in May 2025 as part of a three-year contract that ends in May 2028.
What does this mean for travelers?
Like I mentioned up top, ICE’s acquisition of ARC passenger data probably won’t throw a wrench into your travel plans. But it’s piggybacking on other air travel privacy updates, from the roll-out of Real IDs to quickly expanding biometric programs like CLEAR.
It’s worth noting that the DHS already has a biometric information collection department, known as HART or Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology.
Any biometric data collected from non-US citizens is automatically stored in the identity database for 75 years.
Already, watchdog organizations have pointed out that HART could be used beyond the scope of identifying certain passengers, and instead be used for surveillance purposes.
In short, while new data habits in air travel might not affect your travel plans over the coming years, the expectation of a traveler’s right to privacy is being actively challenged and reshaped.
Sources for this article include Katya Schwenk of The Lever and Acacia Gabriel of Travel + Leisure, along with 404 Media and Airlines Reporting Corporation.
