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Copyright 1996-2004 Elliott Publishing. All rights reserved.

Torched By JetBlue
Memo of the Week · September 20, 2003

JetBlue Airways recently admitted to releasing 5 million passenger records to a Defense Department contractor, which used the information to tag high-risk travelers. Why did it give out the data? David Neeleman, the carrier's CEO, tries to answer that question. (Remember, if you have a letter or memo you'd like us to publish, please e-mail it to us. All submissions remain completely anonymous.)

JetBlue has never supplied, nor will supply, customer information to the Transportation Security Administration, or any government agency, unless we are required to do so by law — not for CAPPS II or for any other purposes, whatsoever.

However, I regret that, more than a year ago, we responded to an exceptional request from the Department of Defense to assist their contractor, Torch Concepts, with a project regarding military base security. This project had no connection with aviation security or the CAPPS II program and no data files were ever shared with the Department of Defense or any other government agency or contractor.

We provided limited historical customer data including names, addresses and phone numbers. It DID NOT include personal financial information, credit card information, or social security numbers.

Torch further developed this information into a presentation, without JetBlue's knowledge, for a Department of Homeland Security symposium. We regret that this presentation included the personal information of one customer -- although the customer's name was not used. Again, we had no knowledge of this presentation until two days ago and we were deeply dismayed to learn of it.

The sole set of data in Torch's possession has been destroyed; no government agency ever had access to it. With Torch's help, we are continuing to make every effort to have the Torch presentation with the one customer's information removed from the internet.

This was a mistake on our part and I know you and many of our customers feel betrayed by it. We deeply regret that this happened and have taken steps to fix the situation and make sure that it never happens again.

I am saddened that we have shaken your faith in JetBlue but I assure you personally that we are committed to making this right.

Sincerely,

David Neeleman
Chief Executive Officer
JetBlue

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