Vietnam Airlines urges police investigation after customer information leaked to taxi companies

Vietnam Airlines has called for a police investigation after many of its customers reported their flight and contact information had been leaked, according to a representative of the national airline.

The Ministry of Transport has also instructed the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam to look into the issue.

The airline cited customer complaints as saying they had received text messages and phone calls inviting them to use certain taxi services upon their arrival at Hanoi's Noi Bai International Airport.

Having never been contacted by these taxi companies before, most of these passengers said they found it unusual for the companies to have their personal and flight information.

Nguyen Huy Duong, deputy director of Noi Bai airport, told local media that keeping passengers' flight and personal information secure is the airline's responsibility, not the airport's.

However, a representative of budget airline VietJet Air said the airline is not the only party with access to customer information, which is by regulations also available to booking offices, booking agents and ground services at the airports.

In a recent investigation into the case, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper interviewed some of the taxi drivers involved. They claimed they received passenger information either directly from booking offices or from third-party companies.