European airlines to handover passenger info to US

Details like credit card numbers and religious meal choices will be passed to Dept. of Homeland Security

The European Parliament passed a bill Thursday that allows the personal data of millions of transatlantic airline passengers to be handed over to the US Department of Homeland Security. The legislation, which aims to combat international terror and transnational crime, replaces an existing agreement that was put into place five years ago.

Nineteen pieces of information about passengers flying from Europe to the United States — full names, addresses, credit card information and phone numbers — known as the “passenger name record,” as well as other details like religious meal choices and health information, will be shared as part of the deal.

The United States will be able to store and use the data for up to five years, according to Reuters. Passengers’ personal details will then be moved to a secondary, inactive database for another 10 years.

The approval of the controversial bill ended years of resistance by officials who invoked EU privacy laws.