smetrics.avianca.com: Avianca’s Invasive Booking Tracker

Avianca’s smetrics.avianca.com domain tracks your activity on their airline booking platform. It collects data on your searches and interactions to build marketing profiles, compromising your privacy. Here’s what it does and how to resist it.

What Is smetrics.avianca.com?

This subdomain is tied to Avianca’s analytics system, likely using Adobe Analytics (indicated by the ‘smetrics’ prefix). It monitors user behavior on their website, capturing travel preferences without full transparency. As Privacy Auditors, we’re concerned about how airlines exploit personal data.

Data It Collects

When you use Avianca’s site, this tracker grabs:

• IP Address: Ties your activity to a network or location.
• Search Queries: Logs flight destinations, dates, and preferences.
• User Behavior: Tracks clicks, viewed flights, and booking actions.
• Session ID: Connects actions in a single visit for profiling.
• Page URL: Records specific search or booking pages.
• Referrer URL: Tracks where you came from, like an ad or search.
• Browser Type: Captures browser details for identification.
• Operating System: Identifies your OS, such as Android or Windows.
• Device Type: Detects if you’re on a phone, tablet, or computer.
• Timestamps: Marks every action with exact timing.

This builds a detailed profile of your travel plans, ripe for exploitation.

Who Gets Your Data?

Avianca shares this information with:

• Marketing Team: Uses data for personalized promotions and offers.
• Third-party Ad Network: Targets ads based on your booking behavior.
• Legal Authority: Complies with data requests under local laws.

How to Protect Yourself

Privacy Auditors are here to help you defend your data:

• Use Tracker Blockers: Deploy Privacy Auditor’s paid service to block smetrics.avianca.com. Check browser extension settings.
• Mask with a VPN: Hide your IP with a VPN like Mullvad to avoid location tracking.
• Switch to Privacy Browsers: Use Firefox with strict protection or Tor Browser.
• Disable JavaScript: Turn off JavaScript to stop trackers, though sites may break.
• Clear Cookies: Regularly wipe cookies to limit tracking.

Combine these measures to block Avianca’s invasive monitoring.

Sources

• Avianca Privacy Policy: https://www.avianca.com/en/privacy-policy

This is a legal disclaimer. All information is provided for educational purposes only.