U.S. Airlines Struggle to Collect Better Data About Passengers
March 04 2020 - 2:31PM
Dow Jones News
By Alison Sider
U.S. airlines are under pressure to provide more detailed
information about passengers flying into the country to help
officials contain the spread of the coronavirus, but are struggling
with requests they say are beyond their capabilities.
Carriers have been expected to help keep people with Covid-19
from entering the country. They've had to assist in funneling
travelers who have been in China or Iran recently into designated
airports where they can undergo additional screening, often relying
on passengers to disclose where they've been. Airlines say they're
now being asked to provide primary and secondary phone numbers,
email addresses, and locations where passengers will be staying
while in the U.S.--information they say they don't easily have at
hand.
Top executives from American Airlines Group Inc., United
Airlines Holdings Inc., Southwest Airlines Co., Alaska Air Group
Inc., JetBlue Airways Corp. met with President Donald Trump and
Vice President Mike Pence to discuss how airlines are dealing with
the impact of the coronavirus.
Chad Wolf, Acting Secretary of the United States Department of
Homeland Security, said the additional data would help the CDC, HHS
and others people who enter the country and contact if
necessary.
One issue is that about half of travel tickets are booked
through travel agencies rather than directly with airlines. While
members of frequent flier programs generally have phone numbers and
email addresses on file with carriers, many passengers do not. They
can choose to share contact information with airlines, but
sometimes don't.
"We don't have this information--we simply don't--on many
passengers," said Sharon Pinkerton, A4A's Senior Vice President,
Legislative and Regulatory Policy. It could take as long as a year
to reprogram systems to ensure that all this data is collected, she
added.
The trade group suggested that the Department of Health and
Human Services set up a website for inbound international
travelers, where they can input their own data, similar to
something that has been set up in South Korea. Nick Calio, A4A's
CEO, said Wednesday's meeting was constructive and that the group
will continue to work with federal agencies to help contain the
spread of the virus.
Write to Alison Sider at alison.sider@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 04, 2020 15:16 ET (20:16 GMT)
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