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Passenger name record
View on WikipediaA passenger name record (PNR) is a record in the database of a computer reservation system (CRS) that contains the itinerary for a passenger or a group of passengers travelling together. The concept of a PNR was first introduced by airlines that needed to exchange reservation information in case passengers required flights of multiple airlines to reach their destination ("interlining"). For this purpose, IATA and ATA have defined standards for interline messaging of PNR and other data through the "ATA/IATA Reservations Interline Message Procedures - Passenger" (AIRIMP). There is no general industry standard for the layout and content of a PNR. In practice, each CRS or hosting system has its own proprietary standards, although common industry needs, including the need to map PNR data easily to AIRIMP messages, has resulted in many general similarities in data content and format between all of the major systems.
When a passenger books an itinerary, the travel agent or travel website user will create a PNR in the computer reservation system it uses. This is typically one of the large global distribution systems, such as Amadeus, Sabre, or Travelport (Apollo, Galileo, and Worldspan) but if the booking is made directly with an airline the PNR can also be in the database of the airline's CRS. This PNR is called the Master PNR for the passenger and the associated itinerary. The PNR is identified in the particular database by a record locator.
When portions of the travel are not provided by the holder of the master PNR, then copies of the PNR information are sent to the CRSs of the airlines that will be providing transportation. These CRSs will open copies of the original PNR in their own database to manage the portion of the itinerary for which they are responsible. Many airlines have their CRS hosted by one of the GDSs, which allows sharing of the PNR.
The record locators of the copied PNRs are communicated back to the CRS that owns the Master PNR, so all records remain tied together. This allows exchanging updates of the PNR when the status of trip changes in any of the CRSs.
Although PNRs were originally introduced for air travel, airlines systems can now also be used for bookings of hotels, car rental, airport transfers, and train trips.
Parts
[edit]From a technical point of view, there are five parts of a PNR required before the booking can be completed. They are:
- The name of the passenger
- Contact details for the travel agent or airline office.
- Ticketing details, either a ticket number or a ticketing time limit.
- Itinerary of at least one segment, which must be the same for all passengers listed.
- Name of the person providing the information or making the booking.
Other information, such as a timestamp and the agency's pseudo-city code, will go into the booking automatically. All entered information will be retained in the "history" of the booking.
Once the booking has been completed to this level, the CRS will issue a unique all alpha or alpha-numeric record locator, which will remain the same regardless of any further changes made (except if a multi-person PNR is split). Each airline will create their own booking record with a unique record locator, which, depending on service level agreement between the CRS and the airline(s) involved, will be transmitted to the CRS and stored in the booking. If an airline uses the same CRS as the travel agency, the record locator will be the same for both.
A considerable amount of other information is often desired by both the airlines and the travel agent to ensure efficient travel. This includes:
- Fare details, (although the amount may be suppressed, the type of fare will be shown), and any restrictions that may apply to the ticket.
- Tax amounts paid to the relevant authorities involved in the itinerary.
- The form of payment used, as this will usually restrict any refund if the ticket is not used.
- Further contact details, such as agency phone number and address, additional phone contact numbers at passenger address and intended destination.
- Age details if it is relevant to the travel, e.g., unaccompanied children or elderly passengers requiring assistance.
- Frequent flyer data.
- Seat allocation (or seat type request).
- Special Service Requests (SSR) such as meal requirements, wheelchair assistance, and other similar requests.
- "Optional Services Instruction" or "Other Service Information" (OSI) - information sent to a specific airline, or all airlines in the booking, which enables them to better provide a service. This information can include ticket numbers, local contacts details (the phone section is limited to only a few entries), airline staff onload and upgrade priority codes, and other details such as a passenger's language or details of a disability.
- Vendor Remarks. VRs are comments made by the airline, typically generated automatically once the booking or request is completed. These will normally include the airline's own record locator, replies to special requests, and advice on ticketing time limits. While normally sent by the airlines to an agent, it is also possible for an agent to send a VR to an airline.
In more recent times,[when?] many governments now require the airline to provide further information included assisting investigators tracing criminals or terrorists. These include:
- Passengers' gender
- Passport details - nationality, number, and date of expiry
- Date and place of birth
- Redress number (if previously given to the passenger by the US authorities).
- All available payment/billing information.[1]
The components of a PNR are identified internally in a CRS by a one-character code. This code is often used when creating a PNR via direct entry into a terminal window (as opposed to using a graphical interface). The following codes are standard across all CRSs based on the original PARS system:
- - Name
- 0 Segment (flight) information, including number of seats booked, status code (for example HK1 - confirmed for one passenger) and fare class
- 1 Related PNR record IDs.
- 2 PNR owner identification (airline, CRS user name and role)
- 3 Other airline Other Service Information (OSI) or Special Service Request (SSR) items
- 4 Host airline OSI or SSR items
- 5 Remarks
- 6 Received from
- 7 Ticketing information (including ticket number)
- 8 Ticketing time limit
- 9 Contact phone numbers
Storage
[edit]The majority of airlines and travel agencies choose to host their PNR databases with a computer reservations system (CRS) or global distribution system (GDS) company such as Sabre, Galileo, Worldspan and Amadeus.[2]
Privacy concerns
[edit]Some privacy organizations are concerned at the amount of personal data that a PNR might contain. While the minimum data for completing a booking is quite small, a PNR will typically contain much more information of a sensitive nature.
This will include the passenger's full name, date of birth, home and work address, telephone number, e-mail address, credit card details, IP address if booked online, as well as the names and personal information of emergency contacts.
Designed to "facilitate easy global sharing of PNR data," the CRS-GDS companies "function both as data warehouses and data aggregators, and have a relationship to travel data analogous to that of credit bureaus to financial data.".[3] A canceled or completed trip does not erase the record since "copies of the PNRs are ‘purged’ from live to archival storage systems, and can be retained indefinitely by CRSs, airlines, and travel agencies."[4] Further, CRS-GDS companies maintain web sites that allow almost unrestricted access to PNR data – often, the information is accessible by just the reservation number printed on the ticket.
Additionally, "[t]hrough billing, meeting, and discount eligibility codes, PNRs contain detailed information on patterns of association between travelers. PNRs can contain religious meal preferences and special service requests that describe details of physical and medical conditions (e.g., "Uses wheelchair, can control bowels and bladder") – categories of information that have special protected status in the European Union and some other countries as “sensitive” personal data.”[5][6] Despite the sensitive character of the information they contain, PNRs are generally not recognized as deserving the same privacy protection afforded to medical and financial records. Instead, they are treated as a form of commercial transaction data.[5]
International PNR sharing agreements
[edit]European Union to United States
[edit]European Union to Australia
[edit]On 16 January 2004, the Article 29 Working Party released their Opinion 1/2004 (WP85) on the level of PNR protection ensured in Australia for the transmission of Passenger Name Record data from airlines.
Customs applies a general policy of non-retention for these data. For those 0.05% to 0.1% of passengers who are referred to Customs for further evaluation, the airline PNR data are temporarily retained, but not stored, pending resolution of the border evaluation. After resolution, their PNR data are erased from the PC of the Customs PAU officer concerned and are not entered into Australian databases.
In 2010 the European Commission's Directorate-General for Justice, Freedom and Security was split in two. The resulting bodies were the Directorate-General for Justice (European Commission) and the Directorate-General for Home Affairs (European Commission).
On 4 May 2011, Stefano Manservisi, Director-General at the Directorate-General for Home Affairs (European Commission) wrote to the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) with regards to a PNR sharing agreement with Australia,[7] a close ally of the US and signatory to the UKUSA Agreement on signals intelligence.
The EDPS responded on 5 May in Letter 0420 D845:[7]
I am writing to you in reply to your letter of 4 May concerning the two draft Proposals for Council Decisions on (i) the conclusion and (ii) the signature of the Agreement between the European Union and Australia on the processing and transfer of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data by air carriers to the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service. We understand that the consultation of the EDPS takes place in the context of a fast track procedure. However, we regret that the time available for us to analyse the Proposal is reduced to a single day. Such a deadline precludes the EDPS from being able to exercise its competences in an appropriate way, even in the context of a file which we have been closely following since 2007.
European Union to Canada
[edit]The Article 29 Working Party document Opinion 1/2005 on the level of protection ensured in Canada for the transmission of Passenger Name Record and Advance Passenger Information from airlines (WP 103), 19 January 2005, offers information on the nature of PNR agreements with Canada. Archived 2014-11-27 at the Wayback Machine.
See also
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- Farrell, Henry and Abraham Newman. 2019. Of Privacy and Power: The Transatlantic Struggle over Freedom and Security. Princeton University Press.
References
[edit]- ^ "EU: European Commission to propose EU PNR travel surveillance system". Archived from the original on 5 January 2012. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
- ^ Strauss, Michael (2010): Value Creation in Travel Distribution
- ^ Electronic Privacy Information Center, Privacy & Human Rights – An International Survey of Privacy Laws and Developments 2004, 81.
- ^ Privacy & Human Rights, 81.
- ^ a b Privacy & Human Rights, 80.
- ^ See Edward Hasbrouck, "What’s in A Passenger Name Record (PNR)?," http://hasbrouck.org/articles/PNR.html
- ^ a b "Letter 0420 D845". European Data Protection Supervisor. 5 May 2011. Archived from the original on 27 November 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
External links
[edit]- European Union Freedom of Information Request for Information on PNR Agreements, AskTheEU.org.
- Guidelines on Passenger Name Record (PNR) Data, iata.org
Passenger name record
View on GrokipediaDefinition and Historical Development
Core Definition and Purpose
A Passenger Name Record (PNR) is a database entry generated by airlines or their authorized agents in a computer reservation system, encompassing the itinerary and associated details for an individual passenger or a group traveling together on a flight.[1] This record integrates data such as passenger identification (e.g., name, contact information), travel segments (including flight numbers, dates, and seats), ticketing details (e.g., fare basis and payment method), and service preferences (e.g., special meals or seating requests).[10] By October 2025, PNRs typically include up to 100 optional data elements, though core mandatory fields focus on enabling seamless itinerary management.[11] The primary purpose of a PNR is to support airlines' commercial operations by streamlining the provision of passenger services across the travel lifecycle, from booking and ticketing through airport handling, interline baggage transfer, en-route flight management, and post-flight reconciliation.[1] This operational framework ensures accurate revenue accounting, efficient resource allocation (e.g., crew and aircraft scheduling), and fulfillment of contractual obligations, such as confirming reservations and processing changes or cancellations.[11] Without PNRs, airlines would lack a centralized mechanism to track and coordinate the multifaceted data required for high-volume global passenger transport, where systems process billions of records annually.[5] While PNRs originated as tools for business efficiency in reservation systems dating back to the 1960s, their structured format inherently supports data sharing for regulatory compliance, though this secondary application does not alter the foundational commercial intent.[12] Airlines maintain PNRs solely for these internal purposes until legal requirements mandate transmission to authorities, underscoring their role as indispensable enablers of aviation's logistical backbone rather than inherently security-oriented constructs.[11]Origins in Airline Reservation Systems
The Passenger Name Record (PNR) emerged from the automation of airline reservations in response to exponential post-World War II growth in air travel, which overwhelmed manual systems reliant on telephone operators, paper itineraries, and electromechanical devices like American Airlines' 1946 Reservisor. These early methods, handling reservations through physical punched cards and mechanical switches, were error-prone and slow, prompting airlines to pursue computerized solutions for real-time inventory management and passenger data storage. In 1953, American Airlines CEO C.R. Smith discussed the concept with IBM executive R. Blair Smith during a flight, initiating feasibility studies for a system to centralize passenger details electronically.[13][14] This led to SABRE (Semi-Automated Business Research Environment), a collaborative project between American Airlines and IBM announced on November 5, 1961, and developed using two IBM 7090 mainframe computers at a cost exceeding $40 million. SABRE became operational in 1964, initially linking American's city ticket offices and reservations centers via dedicated telephone lines, processing 84,000 transactions daily by the late 1960s. At its core, SABRE introduced the PNR as a structured digital record capturing essential passenger information—including name, contact details, itinerary, seat assignment, and ticketing status—enabling agents to query availability, make bookings, and update records instantaneously, a leap from manual fragmentation.[15][13][16] The PNR's design in SABRE prioritized interoperability for interline bookings, where passengers required connections across multiple carriers, necessitating standardized data exchange protocols that predated formal global standards. This innovation reduced overbooking errors from 7-10% in manual systems to near negligible levels and set precedents for subsequent airline systems, such as United Airlines' Apollo in 1971, while establishing the PNR as the foundational unit for commercial reservation handling rather than security-focused applications.[15][14]Evolution Post-9/11 for Security
Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the United States enacted the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) on November 19, 2001, which fundamentally expanded the security role of passenger name records (PNRs) beyond their original commercial purposes. Section 115 of ATSA authorized the newly created Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to require airlines to grant electronic access to their secure reservation systems, enabling the comparison of passenger data—including elements from PNRs such as names, itineraries, and travel details—against government watchlists for pre-screening. This marked a pivotal shift, mandating that PNR data, previously used primarily for booking and operational efficiency, be leveraged for identifying potential threats prior to boarding, with the explicit aim of enhancing aviation security.[12] In April 2002, the TSA proposed the Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System II (CAPPS II) to operationalize ATSA's provisions, utilizing an expanded set of 50 to 60 PNR data elements—such as credit card numbers, travel agency information, and historical travel patterns—to assign risk scores (green, yellow, or red) to passengers before flights.[17] Although CAPPS II faced significant privacy objections and was discontinued in August 2004 due to concerns over data accuracy, scope, and potential mission creep, it accelerated the integration of PNRs into automated risk-based screening protocols, influencing subsequent systems like Secure Flight, which began testing in 2004 and focused on matching PNR-derived names against no-fly lists.[18] This proposal underscored the post-9/11 emphasis on predictive analytics using reservation data to mitigate insider threats and unknown travelers, rather than reactive measures. Concurrently, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP, formerly Customs Service) issued an interim final rule on June 25, 2002, implementing ATSA by requiring air carriers on international flights to or from the United States to provide electronic access to PNR information upon request, including passenger identity details (e.g., name, date of birth, address), itinerary, ticketing, and payment methods.[12] Carriers were required to interface with CBP's Data Center within 30 days, with the data used to verify manifests, detect discrepancies, and support counterterrorism efforts by enabling advance vetting. These unilateral requirements pressured foreign airlines, particularly from the European Union, to transmit PNR data preemptively—initially as a "pull" system but evolving toward mandatory "push" transmission 15 minutes before departure by 2003—transforming PNRs into a core tool for border enforcement and intelligence sharing, despite ongoing debates over data protection adequacy.[19] By 2007, this led to formalized EU-U.S. PNR agreements, but the 2002 rule established the precedent for mandatory security access.[20]Technical Components
Standard Data Elements
Passenger Name Records (PNRs) in airline reservation systems contain a set of standardized data elements that form the basis of booking information, enabling operational management, ticketing, and itinerary tracking. These elements are derived from industry standards established by organizations such as the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which outline both essential fields required for a valid reservation and additional optional data collected for enhanced functionality or compliance. Core elements typically include the passenger's full name, which serves as the record's identifier, along with contact details and the travel itinerary comprising flight segments, dates, and routing.[1][21] Mandatory fields essential for creating and maintaining a PNR generally consist of:- Passenger name details, including family name, given name or initials, and title.
- Itinerary information, such as origin and destination points, flight segments, departure and arrival dates, and booking reference or PNR locator code.
- Ticketing data, encompassing ticket number, issue date, and fare class.
- Contact telephone numbers or received-from details indicating the booking agent or passenger.[2][1]
- Address information, such as home, billing, or emergency contacts, and email addresses.
- Payment details, including form of payment (e.g., credit card number and expiry, cash, or prepaid ticket advice) and payer identification.
- Frequent flyer or loyalty program data, like account numbers and status levels.
- Special requests, such as seating preferences, meal options, or baggage counts.
- Historical records, including PNR creation or modification dates, OSI/SSR codes for special services, and remarks fields for free-text notes.
- Post-booking data, such as check-in status, seat assignments, or baggage tags (typically available only after departure control).[1]
