Airlines to pass travel agents’ details to EU security services
Air passengers flying in and out of Europe will have their personal information provided at check-in stored on police databases for up to five years if the European Commission goes ahead with an anti-terror plan hatched in the wake of the attacks in Paris.
The plan, to be published today, would require 42 pieces of information on every passenger, including which travel agent they used, their bank card details, meal preferences such as halal and their addresses to be stored on a central European database, according to the Guardian.
Although civil liberties campaigners are trying to block the move, most European interior ministers including British home secretary Teresa May are backing the proposal, saying it will allow security services to track potential jihadists as they fly across the Continent.
Airlines are already obliged to provide data on individual passengers to British security services to allow them to intercept terrorist suspects.
Under the proposals agreed by European interior ministers on the day of the Je Suis Charlie march in Paris earlier this month, every airlines operating in Europe would have to collect the same data from passengers and share this with the security services of all 28 EU countries.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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