FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,492
The whole point of data protection legislation is to not be able to use the excuse of common sense to justify breaches.
it maybe common sense that your wife might need to know on which flight you are as the taxi has just asked; but then equally, she might just be suspecting you flew away with your mistress and planned to trap you.
it maybe common sense that plenty of ggl agents recognise my voice be it every time or after a few minutes, but then someone could easily be impersonating me and my brother almost has the same voice as me.
it may be common sense that your Secretary is trying to change your ticket but equally she might not be your secretary or she might want to change your ticket against your will or extract information you didn’t want her to have or you may be James Bond and she is a Spectre agent who knows.
data protection is about legal obligation. Ba does not have discretion on when to respect or not to respect those obligations and thus cannot transfer such protection to its agents.
it’s a bit like wanting your taxi driver to go at the red light because you are in a hurry and can see that there is no pedestrian, bike, or other car around. It’s irrelevant : it is still a red light, and it is not for them or you to decide which red lights have to be respected or not.