Legal Question in Securities Law in California

Re: Flight Question

Generally, no. There are exceptions.

The relevant law is, I think, a Federal law, not a California law; it is the Aviation Security Improvement Act. Rules implementing this Act are published in the Code of Federal Regulations at 14 C.F.R. 243, and the particular rule limiting release of passenger information is 243.7.

The release is limited to family, State Dept., NTSB, and Dept. of Transportation.

There is case law making passenger lists subject to discovery in connection with a lawsuit, e.g., a passenger was allowed to discover the names of fellow passengers in connection with a proposed class action against the airline after a near accident.

There may be other laws or rules affecting passenger lists, but this is the one that seems to be cited in the cases I find on WestLaw.

The cases also indicate that the regulation forbids the airlines to use the information for any marketing purpose.