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In regards to the Belarus Forces Down Plane to Seize Dissident; Europe Sees ‘State Hijacking’ I wonder if the Belarus intelligence was handed the manifest as a routine or they somehow got access through it using spyware?

In a more general form of a question, who knows about the manifest? When I buy a ticket on Kayak.com or any other website for that matter who gets to know that I'm flying on that plane? I suppose:

  • The website I bought
  • The origin, destination and transit airports
  • The airlines used for travel
  • The airspace of every country I enter ??????

Any other entity that gets to know?

Willeke
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Honey
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    In this specific instance, it looks like Roman Protassevitch was followed by Belarusian agents (which started a fight with the flight crew and pretended there was a bomb on board, which gave an excuse to scramble a Mig-29 to divert the plane), so Belarus did not need the flight manifest. More generally, I believe some countries such as the US require manifests for all overflights, but most other countries don't get that information. – jcaron May 24 '21 at 12:07
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    @jcaron This article disagrees about the fight with the flight crew: "In the moments beforehand [before the plane changed direction], everything had been calm and nothing had appeared out of the ordinary." Obviously the full story is still emerging. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-57180275 – dbmag9 May 24 '21 at 20:36

3 Answers3

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Details may differ significantly from country to country and ignoring that it in many situations is still possible to fly without having to present any form of ID when checking in, making it possible to fly with a ticket in a different name, in general:

  • If you buy your ticket from some kind of agency and not directly from the airline, the agency will of course know that you bought a ticket for the given departure. If the reservation agency is collecting further data (e.g. date of birth, payment information, passport data, frequent flyer identifications) during the booking process, they will of course also have access thereto. The agency will not have access to the complete passenger list of a flight, just to the passengers booked through that agency and usually not know if the passenger is actually on board the plane or not.

  • All airlines involved in the conduct of the flights on your ticket will have access to the information.

  • The airports usually have no access to passenger data. It is of course technically possible that the airport is collecting and storing your name if you e.g. have to scan your boarding pass when going through security, but doing so will in many countries, e.g. in the EU, be a breach of privacy law. Details may also depend on whether the airport is operated by a private company or the governmental authorities.

  • Airlines are, in most countries, required to file the passenger manifest to the authorities to get a takeoff clearance for a flight. It will differ from country to country to which authorities the manifest must be sent (that can be flight safety authorities, police, immigration, border surveillance, customs) and how the authorities automatically share data between each other. If the manifest must be sent well in advance, it will usually contain all passengers having booked a ticket on the flight. In other cases, airlines may only be required to send a manifest after boarding has been completed with a list of passengers, who are actually on board the aircraft.

  • Airlines are in several countries required to file a passenger manifest before landing when a plane is arriving from abroad.

  • As jcaron already pointed out in a comment, airlines are also required to file a passenger manifest to get clearance to fly through US airspace. As far as I know, the USA is the only country requiring this.

  • In some countries, the authorities may have a much wider access to the airlines booking system with access to all details of a booking and not just to passenger manifests.

FreeMan
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Tor-Einar Jarnbjo
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    I think Russia also requires passenger information for overflights. – xngtng May 24 '21 at 17:10
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    It's interesting to know that AirPorts don't necessarily have access. Your knowledge is appreciated by all the Jason Bournes of the world... – Honey May 24 '21 at 19:51
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    (+1) It seems some countries require the passenger manifest (“advance passenger information”) of a plane arriving from abroad to be transmitted before it leaves, not merely before it lands (although if the data is shared before take-off it will obviously have been shared before landing). Do you know about that? – Relaxed May 24 '21 at 22:08
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    @Relaxed, Sometimes well before. That's how the airlines get boarding clearances for, e.g. the US ESTA and Canada ETA. I think the US takes a tentative manifest 72 hours before the flight, and then takes real time updates until the flight takes off. I heard the EU will be implementing a similar clearance system next year so that'll be lots more countries. – user38879 May 25 '21 at 02:44
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    @Relaxed There are at least roundabout 30 countries requiring passenger manifests in advance for incoming flights and sorry, I don't have the details in the regulations for all those. But yes, some countries require at least a preliminary manifest well in advance, that may be even days in advance and not just before departure, but the manifest can then usually be updated later to allow passengers to book tickets on shorter notice. I believe that the USA used to require the manifest at least 24 hours before a flight landing (up to 96 hours for incoming ships), but that may have changed. – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo May 25 '21 at 09:38
  • "authorities" is a broad/vague term. In the context of this answer, are you referring to customs officials? Or police? Intelligence services? Or is the implication that if one of these groups has the information, it can be assumed that all of them do? – craq May 26 '21 at 05:22
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    @craq I am using a broad term on purpose because it is very different from country to country how authorities are broken up and which exact authority is responsible for a specific task. When it comes to a task like immigration and passport checks, it may in some countries be performed by the customs department, elsewhere by the police or in some cases by a separate immigration authority or even a branch of the military. I also expect that in many countries, different authorities may share data on a broad basis. – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo May 26 '21 at 09:18
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    "in many situations is still possible to fly without having to present any form of ID when checking in" What are these situations? I'd be most interested in finding out. – FreeMan May 26 '21 at 18:21
  • @Honey airports generally themselves don't need the data, the other entities operating there may need it (security firms, handling agents, airlines). Especially in the EU that means that such data may not be retained by the airport (so may not be stored anywhere) even if they do get it (like a handling agent asking the airport to call out for a missing passenger). – jwenting May 27 '21 at 07:27
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    @FreeMan That is a completely different question, feel free to ask one, but in most European countries there is no official requirement for the airlines to check any id for letting the passengers check in. If airlines do an id check, many low-cost airlines do, it is just for the airline to check that the ticket has not been sold to someone else without paying the required fees. – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo May 27 '21 at 08:00
  • @Tor-EinarJarnbjo I recall the European PNR directive that requires all carriers to store passenger names, and of course to verify them. https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/law-enforcement-cooperation/information-exchange/pnr_en. I'd like to know where it is (still) possible to fly discreetly – usr-local-ΕΨΗΕΛΩΝ May 27 '21 at 14:50
  • @usr-local-ΕΨΗΕΛΩΝ The directive you are linking to only applies to flights arriving to the EU/EEA from non-EU/EEA countries and not for intra-EU/EEA flights. Flying e.g. with Lufthansa within EU/EEA, I can't remember the last time I had to show an id. It must have been at least 15 years ago. I can check-in online or at a kiosk at the airport using my booking reference, I deliver luggage at an automatic bag drop and at the gate, I only scan my boarding pass at a turnstile. I am usually not interacting with a human person before I am greeted when entering the airplane. – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo May 27 '21 at 16:12
  • @Tor-EinarJarnbjo I just found that 22 member states (including UK when it was EU) opted it to adopt PNR for intra-EU flights – usr-local-ΕΨΗΕΛΩΝ May 27 '21 at 18:17
  • For the last part of the answer, I think that Morocco is one of those countries being very outreaching and nosey, telematically speaking. They have somehow compounded safety systems even without a specific need, likewise for certain practices (we have the ID card number written in the passport). That makes the country probably the safest among all Arab countries, which is good, but with a lot of exageration that I frankly dislike and disagree with. – abdul Dec 30 '21 at 22:09
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To answer the part of your question I quote here:

I wonder if the Belarus intelligence was handed the manifest as a routine or they somehow got access through it using spyware?

That would be "SIGINT". This particular operation was done with HUMINT: Roman Protasevitch was physically followed into the airport and up to the counter by an agent who queued up directly behind, and snuck photographs of documents being presented.

Protasevitch noticed all this, and notified friends of the encounter via Telegram, a messaging app, presumably before boarding the flight.

Protasevitch continued on the flight anyway, perhaps not knowing an EU internal flight would cross Belarus.

Aside from the fighter jet, there were also reportedly three intelligence service agents who rode the plane also, but disembarked in Belarus. One could ask on aviation.se whether such agents would have the means to force the aircraft to divert to an enroute airport.

Harper - Reinstate Monica
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  • New answer since 75% different from earlier one. – Harper - Reinstate Monica May 24 '21 at 21:07
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    This still doesn't answer the question and is, in part, speculative. What is really surprising in this affair is that the KGB agents needed a photo of the passport to make sure that they got the right person. Such agents would normally have a photo of the person they supposed to follow. So a lot of speculation, based only on impressions, at this point of time. No doubt surveillance cameras from the Athens airport will give more reliable information. – Mark Johnson May 24 '21 at 21:34
  • @JonathanReez apple news app, credible source. I have no idea how to link from that, let me look when I am back home at a real PC. – Harper - Reinstate Monica May 24 '21 at 23:18
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    @JonathanReez According to this story (see the very last section) there were 126 people onboard the plane when departed, but only 121 arrived in Vilnius. Thats 5 = 3 + 2. – Peter M May 24 '21 at 23:42
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    (-1) The first 2 paragraphs are nothing more than an inventive rephrasing of Tadeusz Giczan Twitter statement: he noticed dodgy-looking ppl taking pics of him at the gate. In a court of law, this would be considered hearsay. HUMINT is supposed to mean Human intelligence, but lets hope that no new war will be started (as has happened) based on such a rephrased statement of a third party of what they were told by the original party. – Mark Johnson May 25 '21 at 05:33
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    @MarkJohnson Our source was the New York Times. (see link). Your Twitter link is broken but in my hunt for it, I substantiated your "3 agents on the plane" claim from the other answer; so thanks for that. My use of HUMINT vs SIGINT is correct given OP's assumption of SIGINT. As far as "creatively rephrasing", that is literally how all reportage works and how StackExchange is supposed to work. Are you sure your DV is warranted based on my latest edit and cites? – Harper - Reinstate Monica May 25 '21 at 06:52
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    @JonathanReez Done, thanks for your patience. – Harper - Reinstate Monica May 25 '21 at 06:54
  • The twitter link was taken from this article: BBC: Western powers voice outrage as Belarus accused of hijacking plane. The DV was based on the At that point, the agent turned heel and walked away from the line. statement that neither your (just added) NYT source nor the BBC sources claim. – Mark Johnson May 25 '21 at 07:08
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    @MarkJohnson DV because you claim it didn't happen??? Or because I didn't include enough references? Like I told JonathanReez, I saw that info on the Apple News phone app, which uses credible sources, but I saw it immediately after the event, when it was news. Later coverage now coming up on Google doesn't mention it because it's not that relevant now. The 1 agent in the check-in line does not contradict the 3 on the plane, there appear to have been 4 agents involved. Why are you giving me such a hard time? – Harper - Reinstate Monica May 25 '21 at 17:58
  • No. I DV voted that portion because a) I (who have been following this closely) have not seen any report, from any reliable newsource, stating this b) you supplied no source. The original source (Tadeusz Giczan Twitter statement) stated he noticed dodgy-looking ppl taking pics of him at the gate, nothing more. Your whole answer is a reinterpretation of this statement. It also does not address the OP question: I wonder if the Belarus intelligence was handed the manifest as a routine or they somehow got access through it using spyware? – Mark Johnson May 25 '21 at 18:31
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    @MarkJohnson Found it, added link. The Guardian claims (near bottom of long article) that the photographing happened. The "turned heel and walked away" is not supported by that link, (though I though I read it, probably elsewhere)... since I can't find it I'm removing it. – Harper - Reinstate Monica May 25 '21 at 18:40
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    @MarkJohnson All of this is speculation, but it could be that the higher ups require more than just an agent's opinion before they start an international scandal by forcing down an international flight. Even if the agent is certain, he could be required to show them some more proof. – FooBar May 26 '21 at 08:09
  • @FooBar Yes indeed, that is my assumption. The agents probably took the fotos to supply their superiors concrete proof so that the planned action would be against the correct plane. – Mark Johnson May 26 '21 at 08:58
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Presuming you used a credit card for the transaction, that is no longer a secret.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90490923/credit-card-companies-are-tracking-shoppers-like-never-before-inside-the-next-phase-of-surveillance-capitalism

In one sense, cardholders are safer from identity theft than ever before. At the same time, they’re now shopping in a panopticon, with companies tracking and analyzing their purchases in near real time. It’s never been tougher to know who’s out there watching and selling this data—to say nothing of who’s buying.

You'd think it's anonymous but

But it isn’t so anonymous. In 2015, de Montjoye and colleagues at MIT took a data set containing three months’ worth of credit card transactions by 1.1 million unnamed people, and found that, 90% of the time, they could identify an individual if they knew the rough details (the day and the shop) of four of that person’s purchases.

I would readily presume anyone taking interest, even just a PI not to mention the intelligence services of a state, could easily figure out all my transactions.

But yes, in this case this was HUMINT but there are many ways this could've happened.

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    What sources do you have that the Lithuanian VSAT receives a copy of the manifest for any internal Schengen Area flight? – Mark Johnson May 25 '21 at 04:39
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    -1. A credit card company is not going to know which flight you're taking in the future, although they might be able to hazard a pretty good guess at where you're going. – lambshaanxy May 25 '21 at 07:23
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    @lambshaanxy you’ve never looked at an Amex statement apparently. They often include full details of the flight purchased (to simplify expenses). I believe Visa and MasterCard also have programs which have airlines include flight data for the same reasons (for business/corporate credit cards). Coverage varies, but they do have the info in many cases. The details were discussed in another question here or on money.SE IIRC. – jcaron May 25 '21 at 07:59
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    Good note on companies/websites selling you out. I once ordered something from Amazon to a family member’s house. A few months later I got a fake bill sent to there. Either that seller sold my info or somehow they found correlation between us – Honey May 25 '21 at 08:36
  • @MarkJohnson you are right, removed VSAT, that was speculation on my end. Sorry. –  May 25 '21 at 09:40