How to delete your Decolar account

About deleting your Decolar account

Decolar, known as Despegar in various international markets, is one of the largest online travel agencies in Latin America. The platform facilitates the booking of flights, hotels, vacation packages, car rentals, and local activities. Because the service requires extensive personal identification, payment details, and travel itinerary tracking, maintaining an account implies that Decolar stores a comprehensive profile of your movement patterns and financial history.

Users often choose to delete their Decolar account to mitigate the risk of data breaches or to remove stored passport information and saved credit card details after travel plans are finalized. Deleting your account ensures that your historical search behavior, such as price tracking for specific destinations, is no longer linked to your digital identity. Reasons for removal include:

• Minimizing the exposure of sensitive identification documents like passport numbers.
• Removing outdated saved payment methods used for past flight or hotel bookings.
• Reducing targeted travel advertising generated by Decolar’s tracking cookies.
• Exercising your right to be forgotten after deciding to switch to alternative booking platforms.

What happens to your data

When you request the deletion of your Decolar account, the service typically initiates a process to anonymize or remove your personal data from their active databases. However, because Decolar operates within the travel industry, they are subject to various legal and financial reporting obligations that may necessitate the retention of specific transaction records for tax and auditing purposes.

Decolar collects and processes a significant amount of data, including:

• Full legal names, birth dates, and contact information.
• Passport or ID document numbers required for international flight bookings.
• Payment information, including credit card digits and billing addresses.
• Geolocation data and device identifiers used to personalize travel offers.
• Historical booking records, loyalty program participation, and preferences.

While personal account details are generally purged, Decolar may retain "de-identified" transactional data to comply with financial regulations and fraud prevention standards. You should expect that while your account profile will disappear, historical receipts for flights or hotel stays may remain in their accounting archives for several years.

Privacy considerations

Decolar utilizes extensive tracking methods to tailor travel deals to your specific profile. This often involves cross-site tracking where your searches for a specific city on Decolar may result in travel advertisements following you to social media or news websites. Privacy-conscious users should be aware that Decolar shares data with third-party travel providers, including airlines and insurance companies, to complete reservations.

Key privacy tips for Decolar users:

• Clear your browser cookies after visiting the site to disrupt tracking pixels.
• Remove saved credit cards from your profile before initiating a deletion request.
• Use guest checkout if possible to avoid building a permanent, linkable profile.
• Review the privacy policy in your specific region, as data laws in Latin America vary by country and impact your rights.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will deleting my Decolar account cancel my upcoming flights?

No, deleting your account is a separate administrative action from your travel reservations. However, you will lose access to your digital ticket dashboard, so ensure you have printed or saved your confirmation emails beforehand.

Can I recover my Decolar account after deletion?

Once the formal deletion process is completed, your account is typically permanently removed. You would need to create a new profile from scratch if you decide to use Decolar again in the future.

How long does Decolar take to process my data deletion request?

While the timeline depends on your region, most privacy regulations require companies like Decolar to respond to or act upon data deletion requests within 30 to 45 days.

Does deleting my account delete my travel history for airlines?

No. Decolar is an intermediary; the actual airline or hotel provider maintains their own records of your booking for regulatory and safety reasons, separate from your Decolar account.

What if Decolar refuses to delete my data?

If you have a legitimate request under local privacy laws, such as GDPR or LGPD, Decolar is legally obligated to comply. If they refuse, you can escalate the matter to your local data protection authority.

Do I need to remove my credit card before deleting the account?

It is highly recommended to manually remove all payment methods from your settings before triggering the account deletion request to ensure that no financial tokens remain associated with your profile.