How much do airline apps know about you?

Zach Myers
·2 min read

INDIANAPOLIS – Should an airline have access to the camera, microphone, contacts list or other information on your smart phone?

Airline apps can access to a lot of our information.  Some of it makes sense, like travel routes, passport information, even health-related information.  However, many airline apps go a lot further than that.

Researchers at Cybernews did a recent study of all the different permissions that smart phone users give airline apps, often without knowing it.  They found that some airlines access users location, camera, microphone, contacts, even different account accounts on the device.

American and United Airlines collect the most information, the researchers found, with about a dozen other airlines also making their list.

Here are the 14 airline apps tested by Cybernews:

  • Air Asia

  • Turkish Airlines

  • American Airlines

  • United Airlines

  • Fly Delta

  • Ryanair

  • Spirit Airlines

  • Southwest Airlines

  • Frontier Airlines

  • Alaska Airlines

  • Singapore Airlines

  • Philippine Airlines

  • Vietnam Airlines

  • Aegean Airlines

The research found all the airline apps access your location, which they say is for app functionality and marketing purposes.  However, not all of the airline apps disclose that they’re accessing your location.

Twelve of the 14 tested apps have access to your camera, which is part of the “find your parking spot” feature.  However, only 3 of the 14 airlines disclose that they have access to your camera.  Many apps have similar access to your microphone, as well as the ability to read and write onto your phone’s storage.

While this is all meant to help your travel experience, if a hacker ever got access to airline’s database, they could know things about you, including where you live and work, and who you talk to.

If you’re uncomfortable with that, the experts at Cybernews recommend checking the “permissions” in your privacy settings.  That’s where you can choose which apps have permission to access things like your location, contacts, camera, microphone, contacts, and so on.

Aside from the airline apps, you might find other apps that have access to those features that you didn’t realize.  You can usually turn that permission off with a simple toggle switch.

You can read more about the research done by Cybernews on their website.

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