Protecting
Your Privacy
Your
privacy is important to us. American
pledges to be responsible when gathering your personal information and to
protect your privacy. Although this
Privacy Policy is not a contract and does not create any legal rights, it does
serve as an expression of American's commitment to protecting private personal
information. American reserves the
right to change this Privacy Policy at any time and will notify users of any
material changes by updating the policy here and by including a "NEWLY
UPDATED" label with the "PRIVACY POLICY" link on the web sites
governed by this policy for 30 days after any material changes are made.
This Privacy Notice should answer your questions about the
sources and kinds of information we collect, how we use it, when it may be
shared with others, and how we safeguard its confidentiality and security. We also provide you with ways to correct the
data you provide us and to limit our sharing of this data with third parties. This privacy notice is applicable to Travel Reservations,
Corporate Sales, Marketing Research, Customer Relations/Service, the
AAdvantage® program and certain affiliated American websites.
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Information
we collect and how we collect it
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Minors
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How your
information will be used
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Sharing of
customer information
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How you can
opt out of marketing communications and sharing of your information with third
parties
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Managing
your email product subscriptions
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Security
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Privacy policy
modifications
Information we collect and how we collect it
In order to facilitate your travel, and manage our business,
we collect and maintain personal information about you. American collects customer information from
many sources to understand and meet your needs. We collect personal information
about you from:
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You, when you voluntarily provide us with information;
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Your browser, when you visit our websites and your browser
interacts with us;
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Your transactions with any of the companies in the American family
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Other sources, in connection with providing your
transportation needs and services.
The personal information we collect about you through these
various sources may include, but is not limited to:
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Name, addresses and telephone numbers
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Email addresses, fax numbers and pager numbers
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AAdvantage account number and flight information
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Credit/debit card number(s), including associated billing
address(es) and expiration date(s)
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Information necessary to facilitate travel or other
services, including travel companion(s) names, emergency contacts, seating
preferences and special dietary or medical needs.
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Passport number, nationality and country of residence
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Transactional and online activity data pertaining to mileage
activity with companies participating in the AAdvantage program
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Use of products and services such as self-service devices,
flight status notification and online check-in
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Personal information provided via survey, focus group or
other marketing research efforts
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Personal information provided to customer-service representatives
to research and resolve issues or questions
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Corporate-contract, employer and/or other corporate
affiliation (i.e. employer name, title,
address and contact information)
Aggregate information
In addition to obtaining your personal information, when you
use our site, we may collect tracking information such as your browser type,
the type of operating system you use, the name of your Internet service
provider, and pages visited on the site. American gets this information by
using technologies, including cookies and web
beacons to increase the functionality and user-friendliness of our site and
to better tailor our site to our visitors’ needs. We also use this information to verify that visitors meet the criteria
required to process their requests.
None of this tracking information identifies you personally; we collect
it for reporting onsite activity in the aggregate. For example, we may want to know how long the average user spends
on our site or which pages or features get the most attention.
Minors
American does not knowingly collect personal identifiable
information from children under the age of 13.
If you are under the age of 13, please do not provide personally
identifiable information of any kind whatsoever.
How your information will be used
American uses personally identifiable information to
complete transactions and fulfill requests for our services. American requires
you to provide personal information when making a reservation to purchase
airline tickets or related products and services such as renting cars or
booking hotel rooms through an American Airlines reservations agent, travel
agent, the AA.com® website or other travel-related website, or enrolling in the
AAdvantage program. In addition to
processing, confirming and fulfilling the travel or other services you request,
American may use this data for administrative and analytical purposes such as
information systems management, accounting, billing and audits, credit card
processing and verification, customer-relations correspondence, operation of
the AAdvantage program.
To the extent required by law, we may disclose
personally identifiable information to government authorities, or to third
parties pursuant to a subpoena or other legal process, and we may also use or
disclose your information as permitted by law to protect the rights or property
of American, our customers, our website, or its users.
American does not sell any customer information or share
your email address with third parties except in compliance with this policy.
However, we may disclose customer information to companies affiliated with
American and/or unaffiliated third parties to fulfill the products and services
you have requested. We may also
disclose this information to third parties, such as employers, who have
arranged for discounts, purchased travel or other services on your behalf.
American also uses customer information to identify, develop and market
products and services that we believe you will value. From time to time, you
may receive offers from affiliated American companies such as AMR Investments,
American Eagle, AAdvantage participants, American Airlines Vacations, and
AmericanConnection® or from carefully-selected third party companies with which
we have a business relationship. In addition, we may provide information we
collect about you to third-parties to distribute promotions, sweepstakes,
marketing surveys, focus groups, interviews and other opportunities offered by
American. These third-parties are subject to stringent data security and
confidentiality requirements and, upon completion of their services, all
customer information is returned to American or destroyed. You may choose to restrict these marketing
communications and sharing of your information with third parties as outlined
in the section below.
How you can opt out of marketing communications and sharing of your information with third parties
If you do not want American to use or share your personal
information for the purpose of sending you marketing or promotional materials,
please click
on this link to submit your request by e-mail. If you are a member of one of our corporate or
business-to-business programs, your company’s designated representative may
have to call directly if you choose to change your participation in those
programs. (Please see your corporate program
agreement and the specific web site applicable to your program for details.) Your request
will be handled promptly but you may still receive marketing communications
that were already in process prior to receipt of your request. If you are an
AAdvantage member, you may also contact AAdvantage
Customer Service to submit your request.
Please note that you will continue to receive AAdvantage program updates
and email products for which you have subscribed.
Managing your email product subscriptions
You can subscribe
to or opt
out of American’s email products or update your personal account
preferences by clicking on ‘My Account’ at the top of any page on www.aa.com.
You must log in using your password to access your information and to make any
changes. If you’ve forgotten your
password or need a new one, visit www.aa.com/password.
In addition to this method, which applies to your www.aa.com
preferences, other companies or programs in the American Family may require
different steps to change your preferences for participation. Please review those other company or program web pages
directly for any additional or different requirements to change your
preferences.
Security
Information
Security is important at American. We
maintain strict physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect
personal information and we regularly review our security standards and
procedures to protect against unauthorized access to personal information. See our Security
statement for details.
American also participates in the Council of Better Business
Bureaus' BBBOnline® Privacy Program,
and complies with all the BBBOnline
privacy and security standards. Further information about this program is
available at bbbonline.org.
For EU residents only
American complies with the EU Data Privacy Directive to the extent it applies to
information American maintains. Please note that security regulations require
us to provide government agencies access to data you disclose to us.
Links to other sites:
We’d also like to remind visitors that we provide additional
links to resources we think you’ll find useful. These links will lead you to sites that may operate under
different privacy practices. Our
visitors are responsible for reviewing the privacy statements for such other
websites, as we have no control over information that is submitted to these
companies.
The American Family
This
privacy notice is applicable to American, American Eagle, Executive Airlines,
American Connection, Travel Reservations, Corporate Sales, Marketing Research,
Customer Relations/Service, the AAdvantage program and certain
affiliated American websites.
Affiliated American websites may also have additional privacy
disclosures and procedures in place, as described on those websites
Contacting Us
If you have other questions, comments or concerns about our
privacy practices, email AA.com
Customer Service.
Privacy Modifications
American reserves the right to change this Privacy Policy at
any time. We will post any changes
here, so be sure to check back periodically.
Although this Privacy Policy is not a contract and does not create any
legal rights, it does serve as an expression of American's commitment to
protecting private personal information.
This policy was last updated on June 30, 2004.
Security
When you buy an American Airlines ticket over the World Wide
Web your web browser connects with the web site through SSL ("Secure
Sockets Layer"). SSL is an industry-standard way to send personal
information over the Internet. SSL ensures you are actually sending data to
American Airlines and not someone who claims to be American Airlines. We also
protect your AAdvantage transactions when you enroll, view miles etc. It's
fast, safe, and it ensures that your personal information will not be read by
anyone else.
Look for one or more of these indicators on your browser to
ensure you have a secure connection:
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A security alert window tells you that you are about to use
a secure connection. Some browsers let
you choose whether to display this window.
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An SSL icon shows when you’re in a secure connection:
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A symbol of an “open padlock” changes to a closed padlock
when you’re in a secure connection.
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A symbol of a “broken key” is replaced by an unbroken key
The web site’s address changes to one that begins with
“https” (check for the “s” which designates a “secure” site)
While
American Airlines takes reasonable steps to safeguard and to prevent
unauthorized access to your private information, we cannot be responsible for
the acts of those who gain unauthorized access, and we make no warranty,
express, implied, or otherwise, that we will prevent unauthorized access to
your private information. IN NO EVENT SHALL AMERICAN AIRLINES OR ITS AFFILIATES
BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES (WHETHER CONSEQUENTIAL, DIRECT, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT,
PUNITIVE, SPECIAL OR OTHERWISE) ARISING OUT OF, OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH, A
THIRD PARTY'S UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO YOUR INFORMATION, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER
SUCH DAMAGES ARE BASED ON CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, TORT OR OTHER THEORIES OF
LIABILITY, AND ALSO REGARDLESS OF WHETHER AMERICAN AIRLINES WAS GIVEN ACTUAL OR
CONSTRUCTIVE NOTICE THAT DAMAGES WERE POSSIBLE.
Cookies and web beacons
A cookie is a text-only string of information that a website
transfers to the cookie file of the browser on your computer's hard disk so
that the website can remember who you are. Cookies
will typically contain the name of the domain from which the cookie has come,
the "lifetime" of the cookie, and a value, usually a randomly
generated unique number. Two types of cookies are used on this website -
session cookies, which are temporary cookies that remain in the cookie file of
your browser until you leave the site, and persistent cookies, which remain in
the cookie file of your browser for much longer (though how long will depend on
the lifetime of the specific cookie).
Most browsers have options that allow the visitor to control
whether the browser will accept cookies, reject cookies, or notify the visitor
each time a cookie is sent. You may
elect to reject cookies by adjusting your browser’s settings, but doing so will
limit the range of features available to the visitor on our site and most other
major websites that use cookies.
Web beacons are used
in conjunction with cookies to record the simple actions of the user opening
the page that contains the beacon. When a user's browser requests information
from a website in this way certain simple information can also be gathered,
such as: the IP Address of your computer; time the material was viewed; the
type of browser that retrieved the image; and the existence of cookies
previously set by that server. This is information that is available to any web
server you visit. Web beacons do not give any "extra" information
away. They are simply a convenient way of gathering the simplest of statistics
and managing cookies.
For more information about our policies for protecting your
personal information see our Privacy Notice
Affiliated Web Pages: