Travelport said it became the first GDS company to receive Safe Harbor compliance certification, indicating that the company meets certain European Union and U.S. standards related to the protection of European passenger data.
By achieving compliance, Travelport meets seven security-related standards for transmitting passenger data from Europe to the U.S., including notifying European travelers about what personal information is being collected; enabling European travelers to opt out of having personal info disclosed to third parties; and ensuring that an independent party be brought in when a European traveler disputes how personal info was used by Travelport.
Sabre Holdings has no plans to try for Safe Harbor compliance, said spokeswoman Nancy St. Pierre, who added that "the systems and processes we have in place are very robust."
Amadeus spokeswoman Debbie Iannaci said the company doesn't need to achieve Safe Harbor certification because its data center is based in Germany, and thus falls under European regulations that are stricter than the U.S. in regard to processing personal data.
