What's in a Passenger Name Record (PNR)? (2013)

Summary

What's in a Passenger Name Record (PNR)? by Edward Hasbrouck, author of “The Practical Nomad” [Excerpt from a simple Passenger Name Record (PNR) from the file about me kept by the CBP division of the DHS. Most PNRs have more information than this. Click image for larger version. More examples and discussion.] A Passenger Name Record (PNR) is the basic form of computerized travel record. Most travellers have never seen a PNR, and few people know what information is in the PNRs about them, or how it gets there. But with governments using PNR data to decide whether or not to allow you to fly, you need to know what’s in your PNRs. PNRs are the records about each airline passenger that are being used USA government’s passenger surveillance and permission system and “no-fly” lists, and compiled into the Automated Targeting System (ATS) and other databases of the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) divisions of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Passenger Name Records are commercial records used to store airline reservations and records related to other travel services. A single PNR can contain data about an entire family or tour group, and about all services for their trip from multiple providers: air and train travel, hotels, car hire, etc. Perhaps the best way to conceptualize PNR data is as “metadata about the movements of our bodies.” As such, PNR data can be even more intimate than the metadata about the movement of our messages that governments can obtain through Internet or telephone surveillance, or the metadata about the movements of our money obtained from banks and other financial institutions. PNR data reveals our associations, our activities, and our tastes and preferences. PNRs typically contain credit card numbers, telephone numbers, email addresses, and IP addresses, allowing them to be easily merged with financial and communications metadata. Police are eager to get more and easier access to PNR data becaus...