5.1. Processing purposes
The main purposes for which we use your personal data are:
a) To provide our services to you
General information: To manage your bookings and arrange your travel and purchases, we need to process most of the information listed in section 3.1. Among other things, we need your identification data to identify you and issue your ticket. In order to provide you with all the information related to your flight, the different stages of your journey (check-in, boarding) and changes in the status of your flight, we need your contact information. To provide you with a service that meets your expectations, we also process all the data related to your trip and your preferences, especially if you have created a personal account.
Legal basis for the processing: We process your personal data because it is necessary for the performance of your contract of carriage and the performance of our services.
b) To manage your membership in our loyalty programmes
General information: In order for you or your company to benefit from the discounts and bonuses provided by our loyalty programmes, we process your name, contact details, member information, booking information, purchases and, where applicable, any interaction or communication with our services (see section 3.1 a, b, c, e, f).
Legal basis for the processing: We process this data because it is necessary for the performance of your membership contract, the management of your accounts and associated benefits.
c) To provide you with our services online or on our mobile applications and offer you an optimal experience
General information: For example, we use your name and flight information when you check-in on our mobile application.
Some of our online services and the application use your location, for example to show you the nearest location.
In order to simplify the use of our online services or applications and to offer you an optimal experience, we may analyse your use of the digital media we offer you, in particular using cookies and similar technologies (see section 3.1 g). For example, we aim to understand which digital channel (email, social network) or device (desktop computer, tablet or smartphone) you prefer so that we can tailor our communication to the channel or digital device you use most.
If you interrupt your booking session on our website, we can send you an email with a link to your session so that you can continue where you left off. This type of email will only be sent to you if you have requested it or if you have agreed to receive our updates and special offers by email (see section 4.1.e). You can withdraw your consent for these emails at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link, by changing your communication preferences in your account (if available), or by contacting us (see section 9 "HOW TO EXERCISE YOUR RIGHTS" below).
Legal basis for the processing: We process your personal data because it is necessary for the performance of your contract of carriage and the provision of our services and also for the purposes of the legitimate interests described above, in order to be able to serve you in the best way possible through the channel of your choice. Your location data is processed based on your consent.
d) To perform statistical studies and improve our products and services
General information: We research general trends in the use of our services, loyalty programmes, websites, mobile applications and social networks, as well as on the behavioural trends and preferences of our customers and users. We use the results of our research to develop better services and offers for our customers, improve our loyalty programmes, provide better customer service and improve the design and content of our websites and mobile applications.
Categories of personal data: To perform our research, we may use the categories of personal data described in section 3.1. We also use the various surveys we conduct to measure your satisfaction and better understand your expectations.
For example, we use your booking data and the additional services you purchase (extra luggage and seat options) to improve our services and provide more relevant offers. If our analyses show, for example, that travellers on certain flights are more likely to select seat options allowing them to have more space, we can use this information to offer more seats of the same type on similar flights.
Legal basis for the processing: We process your personal data for the legitimate interests described above. In accordance with the applicable regulations, you have the right to object, for reasons specific to your particular situation, to the processing of your personal data for statistical research purposes (see section 9 "HOW TO EXERCISE YOUR RIGHTS").
e) To send you personalized updates and special offers based on your interests
General information: If you are a subscriber, we will send you personalised advertisements and offers by email for products and services related to our company. You can unsubscribe at any time (see conditions below).
Channels: We use different channels such as email, mobile push notifications, postal mail, advertising space on websites and social networks. For example:
- Emails relating to your booking and management of your flight: If you book a flight with us, you will receive emails regarding your booking (e.g. your booking confirmation, check-in and boarding information). These messages contain advertisements and offers for products and services related to our company.
- Emails with updates on company news and offers related to our products and services: These emails include offers for our products and services as well as similar services offered by our partners. With your consent, we may also send you emails on special occasions, such as a special offer for your birthday or personalised offers for an upcoming trip in the months following your return.
- Flying Blue and BlueBiz emails: As a member of our Flying Blue loyalty programme, you will receive emails including, among other things, your account status and all the information necessary for the basic operation of the programme. You can also subscribe to receive the latest programme news and personalised offers from Flying Blue, participating airlines or our other partners. If you are a member of our BlueBiz loyalty programme, you will receive the latest programme news by email as well as our offers or those of our partners. You can read the Flying Blue Privacy Policy for more information on the personal data we collect in connection with your membership in the programme. You can also find an overview of the participating airlines and our Flying Blue and BlueBiz partners on the Flying Blue and BlueBiz websites.
- Direct messages through other communication channels: We may use other communication channels to send you direct messages including personalised advertisements and special offers, such as postal mail, mobile push notifications or social channels (e.g. Messenger, WhatsApp or WeChat).
- Display of relevant information and personalised advertisements on websites and applications: see our cookie policy. In addition, we may also use your personal data to exclude you from advertisements that are no longer relevant to you. For example, if you log-in to our website through your personal AIR FRANCE account or your Flying Blue account, or if you visit our sites via a link contained in an email, we will associate your browsing and clicking behaviour with your booking details on our data management platform. We mainly use this data to exclude you from further advertising once you have booked a flight.
- Customised audience targeting through social network platforms: You may choose to receive personalised advertisements and offers on the social network platforms you use. For example, we use the Facebook Custom Audience programme. This programme allows us, among other things, to display personalised advertisements and offers in your newsfeed on Facebook platforms, including Facebook Messenger and Instagram. We may also use this programme to exclude you from advertising campaigns on Facebook platforms, if, for example, you have already received advertisements or similar offers by email.
To enable Facebook to determine whether you already have an account, we share your email address and telephone number in a secure (hashed) and pseudonymised manner. We do not share any other data with Facebook. Conversely, Facebook only provides us with aggregate data on the effectiveness of an advertising campaign. This is data that cannot be directly linked to you. Facebook does not inform us whether you have a Facebook account or not. We make every endeavour to ensure that your personal data remains secure and confidential.
To determine our target audience for a specific Facebook campaign, we may use your booking details or data we collect when you use our websites, mobile applications or other digital media. Facebook may also use the data collected about you to identify a similar audience. This allows us to reach a new audience through Facebook.
You can visit the dedicated Facebook pages to find out how your data is used for the personalised audience programme and how you can control the information that Facebook uses to personalise the advertisements sent to you. You can also read the Facebook Privacy Policy.
We may also participate in similar programmes offered by other social networks, such as Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, WeChat, Kakaotalk and LINE. We invite you to read the respective privacy policies of these social networks to find out more about the processing of your data.
If you have an Air France account, after logging in you can go to the page https://wwws.airfrance.fr/profile/communication-preferences and change your "Air France customised offers" preference to disable it.
If you do not have an Air France account, you can contact us (please see section 9 "HOW TO EXERCISE YOUR RIGHTS" below). When you contact us, please use the email address for which you wish to withdraw your consent.
You may also have consented to receive personalised advertisements and offers on social network platforms by accepting our cookie policy. You can then read our Cookie Management Policy to see how you can withdraw your consent.
Customised offers: Our goal is to provide you with offers for our services and products that are tailored to your interests and relevant to your expectations. For this purpose, we may use the categories of personal data described in section 3.1. For example, with your consent, we may send you an email after you return from a trip with offers based on your booking history, to inspire you for your next trip. In the same type of communication, we may also offer other similar services such as car rental, insurance services or hotel reservations offered by our partners. In this case, all communications are sent by AIR FRANCE. No contact details are shared with our partners for this purpose without your consent.
Legal basis for the processing: Depending on the nature of your relationship with our airline (customer or prospect) and the communication we send to you, we process your personal data as described in this paragraph based on your consent or for the purposes of our legitimate interests, or those of our partners (in accordance with the applicable rules on commercial prospecting) in order to promote our services and to carry out direct marketing actions in view of your commercial relationship with our airline. You have the right to object to the use of your personal data for direct marketing purposes at any time (see section 9 "HOW TO EXERCISE YOUR RIGHTS" below).
Unsubscribe: you can always unsubscribe to stop receiving personalised advertisements and offers. You will find an explanation of how to unsubscribe below :
- Emails: You can unsubscribe from our advertisements and offers in our booking and loyalty programme emails, as well as emails you are subscribed to at any time, by clicking on the unsubscribe link. If you have a Flying Blue account, you can also unsubscribe by changing your communication preferences in your profile. If you unsubscribe, you will only receive emails that are necessary to be able to use our services (e.g. your booking confirmation, travel memo and e-ticket) or, if you are a member of our Flying Blue loyalty programme, only emails that are related to the operation of the programme (e.g. messages informing you of the status of your account)
- Postal mail: You can object to receiving personalised offers by post by contacting us (see section 9 "HOW TO EXERCISE YOUR RIGHTS" below).
- Other communication channels: If you have chosen to receive personalised advertisements and offers via mobile notifications, you can unsubscribe by changing your smartphone settings (for push notifications). Visit your social network provider's website for more information on how to unsubscribe from receiving personalised advertisements and offers through social networks (e.g. Messenger, WhatsApp, and WeChat).
- Contact our Data Protection Department: you can always contact us to unsubscribe from receiving messages containing advertisements and offers (see section 9 "HOW TO EXERCISE YOUR RIGHTS" below).
f) To communicate with you
We use your contact details to communicate with you about our services or loyalty programmes, to answer your questions and to process your complaints.
Legal basis for the processing: We process your personal data because it is necessary for the performance of your contract of carriage and the provision of our services.
g) To ensure the safety of our flights
Any incident likely to affect the safety or security of a flight may be subject to a computer recording and/or the lodging of a complaint and, in the case of serious offences, may result in a ban on transport on Air France flights for the passengers concerned.
This computer recording is mainly carried out to ensure the management of significant events related to flight safety and in particular events related to unruly passenger behaviour.
In this context, the information of the data subject is only available to authorised Air France personnel and is stored for 5 years. In case of a complaint, the data is used to ensure the follow-up of ongoing legal proceedings and kept for the duration of the proceedings and the measures pronounced.
This data is also used, in an anonymised manner, for statistical purposes and systemic analysis in the field of flight safety.
In the event of a ban on transport notified by the airline for serious offences, the data subject will (i) be informed (by letter prior to their registration) of the period during which these special security measures will be applied to them and (ii) will be given the opportunity to make their observations within the time limit provided for by the procedure. For this processing, enhanced technical and organisational measures are implemented to protect this data. For more information on accessing and rectifying this data, please see section 9 "HOW TO EXERCISE YOUR RIGHTS" below.
Legal basis for the processing: We process this data to comply with our legal or regulatory obligations and also in our legitimate interest to ensure the safety of our flights and other passengers. The processing of the ban on boarding the airline's aircraft has been authorised by the CNIL (deliberation No. 2016-240 of 21 July 2016)."
h) To manage our disputes, prevent cases of fraud or comply with our legal obligations
We collect, store and use your data for internal business purposes, such as record keeping, managing our disputes, preventing non-payment and fighting fraud. In the event of fraud, we may include your personal data in our internal control and alert systems. In addition, we process your personal data in accordance with our legal and tax obligations.
We may be required by law to collect and share your identification, booking and travel information with public authorities or governmental organisations for border control, immigration, entry, security or anti-terrorism purposes.
Legal basis for the processing: We process this data to comply with our legal or regulatory obligations and also in our legitimate interest, in particular to manage disputes, prevent non-payment or fight fraud.
i) To check the conditions required to obtain the accreditation number for the "resident rate" on Air France and Air Corsica public service routes
If you live in Corsica, you can benefit from discounted rates (known as "resident rates") on Air France and Air Corsica public service routes. You can only benefit from these rates if you obtain an accreditation number. You can get this accreditation number online by proving a principal and effective tax residence in Corsica.
The documents downloaded by passengers who applied for a "resident" accreditation number via our websites are temporarily stored for the time "strictly necessary" for verification and the allocation of a possible accreditation number, then they are systematically destroyed.
To know more about this process, you can read the dedicated privacy policy.
Legal basis for the processing: Air France and Air Corsica, acting as joint data controllers, collect and process your personal data based on your consent and in your interest to offer you the following service: obtaining a personal accreditation number, called “Resident Rate”.
Purpose of this processing is to offer you a dedicated booking process to purchase your ticket on the public service routes to and from Corsica, with Air France and Air Corsica.
j) To offer you specific services, applications, events, sweepstakes or special campaigns
For specific services, applications, events, sweepstakes or special campaigns, we may use your personal data for purposes other than those described in this privacy policy. We inform you of these purposes when you subscribe to the service, event, sweepstakes or campaign, or when you download the dedicated application.
5.2. Legal basis
As mentioned in the purposes described above, we may only process your personal data if we have a legal basis for doing so. In many cases, the legal basis for processing your data is "necessary for the performance of your contract of carriage" and, more generally, for the provision of our services.
Some processing of personal data may be based on your consent. You can then withdraw it at any time for the processing concerned (see section 9 "HOW TO EXERCISE YOUR RIGHTS" below).
In some cases, we may use your personal data if we (or third parties) have a legitimate interest in doing so. We always carefully assess all interests: yours, those of third parties and those of our airline. As an example, we process your data based on legitimate interest to ensure the safety of our flights or for statistical research or direct marketing purposes, or to offer discounts and personalised offers (see 5.1 d to f, h and i above for more information).
We may also have a legal obligation to process your data, for example to complete the formalities of the immigration services (see 5.1.h above for more information).
If you refuse to provide the personal data we need to perform the contract or meet a legal requirement, we may be unable to provide some or all of the services you have requested. For example, we may cancel your flight or not be able to provide you with the additional services you have requested. If you provide incomplete or incorrect information, we may deny you boarding or entry into a foreign territory under applicable international laws.