FlyDeltaMD88

It's one thing to look at the upgrade list (which is usually public) and to of course make personal accounts such as the individual is in the gate area/on the plane, it's another to share actual reservation information and I am disgusted regardless of your politics how anyone can be OK with that. Here's hoping UA does a thorough investigation into this.

CALMSP

at CO there used to be a GG NWP that showed celebrities or other "famous" people who were flying and which flights. I think it was around 2009 when that stopped being updated.

jmastron

They could keep the list but switch to using an identifier that's not a truncation of your name. When I was in college in the early 90s, professors would post grades on their office doors, anonymized by...Social Security #! Really. So maybe not that, but a 3-digit "Upgrade/Standby ID" could be displayed on your BP or in the app.

uanj

Anyway, this has not been an issue with United historically and does not really bother me. It better not influence displaying the upgrade list.

RooseveltL

I think some (most) folks here are overthinking this situation. If someone knows a passengers first/last name, flight number (everyone knew his outbound) and birthday it is quite easy to call ANY airline and indicate you want your PNR as currently not near a computer, or their assistant.

I have done it MANY times when I have codeshare reservations or even 3rd party award bookings (not linked to my Frequent Flyer) and don’t have the PNR log on online or seat assignments. My next comment even simpler but doubtful a CSR would quickly distinguish (legal name) Rafael Edward Cruz on a flight to any Latin America destination is Senator Ted Cruz. His DOB is available on his wiki.

i get there may be politics (diversion of real challenge) involved but UA has no accountability or bad press as there is no investigation necessary here, as no issues.
I think one can walk up to ticket counter and get the same information especially if CANCUN staffs 3rd party personnel who wouldn’t ask for physical ID just verification details - if one claims they are the driver or escort and wish to verify passenger is on the plane. Maybe reporter shouldn’t have said a source in UA as easy enough to do it on his own.

Dublin_rfk

To tread even closer to omni territory. "At this point what difference does it make?"

AndyPatterson

SNL nailed it: "Would you like to apologize?” Spears asked.

“Absolutely. I deeply regret my actions over the last couple of days,” Cruz said. “Mostly, flying United.”

1P

Given that Cruz's wife had posted plans and itineraries all over social media, not to mention inviting the entire neighborhood to join them in Cancun, the alleged leak would have been completely unnecessary. Everyone already knew what was going on, and when, including changes of plan.

am1108

Still does not excuse any UA employee from disclosing PNR info to sources other than the government since the info can be used with ill intent.

I remember calling UA in the mid 2000s' asking to see if a sibling was on a certain flight since I was going to pick her up and was told that they would not be able to disclose that info.

EWR764

I am not sure if UA can see who *accessed* a PNR. Changes made to a record are documented with an agent sine, but I don't believe there is a record of queries.

drowelf

When I was a youngster in Virginia in the 70's and 80's your driver license number was your SSN. It changed sometime after I left the state.

arles

Am I missing something here? Nowhere in the article linked in the OP is there mention of anyone accessing the PNR. There is only mention that he was originally scheduled to return on Sunday. Unless it is stated elsewhere, this could very easily be FT jumping to conclusions and discussing PNR disclosure. This could be simply that the family was overheard by an employee (at check-in, using the lounge, or waiting at the gate) discussing that they were going away and would return on Sunday. No one need to have accessed any records. I often overhear people at the airport discussing how long they would be on vacation.

njcommodore

Someone on Twitter (in the article) talked about hearing from a "source at United". That's what we are discussing.

Often1

The fact that all of this information in this particular case could likely have been obtained from sources other than UA, e.g. smartphone video from gate areas & the wife's chat group, is irrelevant. It is equally irrelevant that it is possible to circumvent the policy through fraud. What is significant is that UA has a published privacy policy and that policy describes how and when UA will disclose the data to others. Shockingly, the disclosure here does not appear to be covered by UA's policy.

The fact that this occurred here is a hit on UA as many people depend on air carriers' discretion for all kinds of reasons and some people don't have a reason beyond being private people.

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly...ng_information

artvandalay

Agree, and thank you. "Private" people don't use smart phones.