Overview
- A bipartisan letter disclosed that the IRS queried ARC’s database without a warrant and did so without conducting a legal review.
- ARC’s Travel Intelligence Program offered searchable access to roughly 722 million ticket transactions spanning about 39 months, drawn from more than 12,800 travel agencies and booking platforms.
- ARC, co-owned by major U.S. and international airlines, enabled searches by name, credit card, airline, and other fields to track travelers’ movements and payments.
- ARC notified all TIP customers on November 12 that the program will be sunset this year, with the CEO saying it no longer aligns with ARC’s core travel-industry goals.
- Reported government customers included the FBI, Secret Service, CBP, ATF, the SEC, TSA, the State Department, and ICE, while lawmakers urged airlines to require legal compulsion for future disclosures and noted TIP covered roughly half of U.S. tickets.