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Does anyone know if a previous flight's passenger name list or passenger name record (PNL or PNR) is publicly accessible?

Edit: I was asking in order to see the number of passengers on the plane after take off, not the identities of the passengers.

Jack Scrugggs
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    That would be a huge breach of privacy, wouldn't it? – DJClayworth Jan 13 '20 at 03:51
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    If it is available, it’s going to be reported to all sorts of regulatory bodies. –  Jan 13 '20 at 04:24
  • If an airline wished to go bankrupt it could do this... – Krist van Besien Jan 13 '20 at 04:24
  • From casual observation and trying to get information on my own bookings a couple times, I think their security procedures are as good as most banks. – Spehro Pefhany Jan 13 '20 at 07:09
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    @SpehroPefhany: not, they mishandle data very often. For once: they call people with name (e.g. special diet, or in upper classes). And it is not seldom to find the list in the galley (e.g. when going to WC). If a bank does something like this, I would change bank and report them. – Giacomo Catenazzi Jan 13 '20 at 08:08
  • It's not only a privacy issue, which is very important, but airlines would also tell competitors how many passengers they have on their individual routes. Competitors then could compete on the well-used routes more easily. – johannes Jan 13 '20 at 13:56
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    Why would it be? What a bizarre question. – user428517 Jan 13 '20 at 18:37
  • Even with the edit, it’s commercially sensitive information, and as such heavily restricted. And your question is no different to your other, unanswered question. –  Jan 14 '20 at 06:38
  • @ApologizeandreinstateMonica: Maybe there's a country tag missing here? I've noticed before that during fatal accidents, airlines from various Asian countries seem to routinely publish the full list of passenger names, while this doesn't seem to happen e.g. in Europe. So, there may at least be differences in how topics of privacy concerning these lists are handled across the globe. – O. R. Mapper Jan 14 '20 at 13:18
  • The airline doesn't need to care one whit about privacy of its passengers, but it certainly wants to make it as difficult as possible for competitors to measure their performance. Average load factors aren't even published. – choster Jan 14 '20 at 17:22

1 Answers1

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No, it is not accessible publicly

The full passenger lists are limited to certain staff members. Been working for airlines for so long and never got that level of access, most likely never will.

Even in cases where some passenger information must be shared, for example, passengers who ask for special meals, a small list of these passengers (seat number, last name and meal type) will be supplied to the crew. It will not be considered PII (Personally identifiable information).

Cabin pursers (the chief cabin crew) might have a list of frequent fliers in first/business classes to be able to serve them more (depending on the airline).

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) touches everything!

3kstc
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Nean Der Thal
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