By James Pilcher
Enquirer staff writer

Delta Air Lines Thursday confirmed giving sensitive passenger data - including credit-card numbers - to the nation's federal aviation security agency, which passed the data on to the Secret Service to prepare for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

The disclosure that the airline had turned over what are called "passenger name records" came Wednesday, when a Transportation Security Administration official told members of Congress that the agency had gotten such information from four more airlines - including Delta - than previously disclosed.

Earlier disclosure that Northwest and JetBlue had provided similar information to the TSA outraged many passengers and privacy advocates - and even led to some suits.

Delta spokeswoman Peggy Estes said that since the TSA required the data to be provided through a binding security directive, its corporate privacy policy was not violated.

But Thursday's admission came after officials with the Atlanta-based airline had repeatedly denied providing such data to the government.

The TSA, created to oversee aviation security in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, has been seeking such data to test its new computerized passenger profiling system known as CAPPS II.

The data include credit- card numbers, travel reservation information, address, telephone number and meal requests, which can indicate a passenger's religion or ethnicity.

Delta officials also acknowledged that they provided "dummy" data in February 2003 for the agency to test its system. According to TSA acting administrator David Stone, Delta asked for the data to be destroyed a month later. That request was honored.

TSA officials declined to comment, only referring to Stone's testimony Wednesday.

The 2002 Winter Olympics were held in Salt Lake City; Delta operates a hub in Salt Lake, while Cincinnati is its second-largest hub.

Stone said that the data was stored in a secure facility, and that the Secret Service did not share the information with any other agency. He said that the data were "disposed of after the event."

The Associated Press contributed to this report. E-mail jpilcher@enquirer.com