The European Parliament has approved a measure to require airlines to collect more information on passengers flying to and out of Europe, based mainly on security concerns, especially after the Brussels airport bombing. Airlines have two years to comply.
It may not take them that long: The information requirements are the same as those now used by the U.S., Canada and Australia, where information on names, addresses, ID documents, itinerary, baggage, and more are collected in a Passenger Name Record (PNR) that is shared with the government and other airlines. There are now agreements with EU and the three countries already collecting to share the data.
There won’t be much immediate effect on passengers—just more to fill out on line when buying tickets, but it’s hoped that it will make air travel more secure. For government, it may also mean more ability to track the movements of potential terrorists or criminals.
If European governments agree among themselves, PNR data might also be collected for intra-European flights, but with the heavy volume of car, train and bus travel between countries, that might not add much to the database.
