Lawmakers call for watchdog review of Transportation’s passenger privacy practices

Two Democratic lawmakers are calling on the Government Accountability Office to launch an investigation into the Department of Transportation’s airline passenger privacy practices, warning that the agency has failed to safeguard U.S. citizens’ personal data by not moving to regulate the practices of commercial airlines.

In a Wednesday letter to GAO acting Comptroller General Orice Brown, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, noted that “although DOT has had sole authority to safeguard passenger data for over 40 years, DOT has never taken a single enforcement action related to privacy.”

The lawmakers added that DOT’s “abdication of its role as a privacy regulator” has allowed passengers’ data to be “exposed to corporate exploitation, warrantless government surveillance, and warrantless seizure of money and other property.” 

In one notable case, 404 Media reported in June 2025 that a data broker owned by several U.S. airlines sold Customs and Border Protection access to travelers’ flight information. The Drug Enforcement Administration similarly profiled train and airline passengers using their data to identify individuals for questioning, with the lawmakers’ letter saying the agency “for years bribed airline employees millions of dollars to covertly siphon off Americans’ private data.”

The missive said “a Congressional Research Service review found no instance of [DOT] taking a public enforcement action or issuing civil penalties regarding consumer privacy violations,” despite the agency having four decades’ worth of authority to police such offenses. DOT has said it receives few complaints regarding consumer privacy violations and that it investigates any concerns as they arise — “a reactive approach to airline privacy,” the lawmakers said in a Wednesday press release. 

Similar concerns raised by Wyden during the Biden administration ultimately led to DOT launching an industrywide review of U.S. airliners’ privacy practices, with then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg saying in March 2024 that the move was “the beginning of a new initiative by DOT to ensure airlines are being good stewards of sensitive passenger data.”

Despite Wednesday’s letter noting that Transportation’s review included requests for information from major U.S. airlines about their privacy policies and procedures, the lawmakers said that, “more than two years after this announcement, it remains entirely unclear whether a meaningful review ever took place.”

None of the responses from U.S. airlines were ever made public, and Transportation did not release any subsequent reports or take any actions against airlines for privacy violations. Under the Trump administration, the lawmakers said that “DOT appears to have abandoned this effort” and “has not announced any additional privacy reviews.” 

Wyden and Brown’s letter calls for GAO to launch a formal investigation “into the DOT’s systemic abdication of its consumer privacy enforcement mandates,” and similarly requests that the watchdog provide legislative recommendations to address “DOT's inaction and compel the agency to more vigorously protect the privacy rights of travelers.”

The missive outlines several priority areas for GAO to review, including reporting on the status of Transportation’s 2024 industrywide privacy practice evaluation, examining the agency’s coordination with the DEA and assessing the current “complaint-driven oversight model” when it comes to investigating potential consumer privacy violations.