SkyWest Airlines has filed a lawsuit in the Utah District Court against two former pilots, Daniel Moussaron and Vikaas Krithivas, whom it accuses of alleged violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, breach of contract, and civil conspiracy. The company maintains that both accessed personal information of thousands of pilot employees without authorization through the internal portal SkyWest Online (SWOL) during the second half of 2025.
Access to personal data and chronology of the facts
According to the lawsuit, on August 29, 2025, Moussaron would have initiated a series of unauthorized activities to obtain pilot employee data. In his first session, he accessed personal addresses and phone numbers of two pilots. The next day, the company states that he expanded access to information of 18 employees, following the order of seniority in the staff.
During the following three months, Moussaron would have made at least eight additional accesses, downloading data from a total of 365 pilots. On September 3, Krithivas began to access the directory and that same day downloaded personal records of 4,970 pilots, including phones and addresses. SkyWest maintains that both acted in a coordinated manner, exchanging information and ensuring not to omit any pilot.
The complaint details that in December 2025 several pilots received mass communications on their personal phones, unrelated to the legitimate commercial operations of the airline. In January, one of those affected filed a complaint after receiving an unsolicited call that promoted an external action.
Possible relation with the union organization
In a court motion, Moussaron explained that since April 2025 he participated in the organization of a union and was part of a committee linked to the Air Line Pilots Association, with the aim of promoting unionization at SkyWest. According to his version, the SWOL platform allowed viewing basic employee information, but not private phone numbers or addresses. Moussaron stated that he used standard developer tools for browsers and thus was able to view additional data.
"At no time did I evade any server access control, nor did I escalate privileges, nor did I access a function exclusive to administrators" - Daniel Moussaron, former pilot
Krithivas declared that he was contacted by Moussaron to collaborate on access to the directory and assured that his only intention was to facilitate a unionization campaign.
"I believed that Daniel Moussaron's only intention was to collect contact information from pilots to facilitate a campaign to unionize SkyWest pilots" - Vikaas Krithivas, former pilot
Conflicting positions and judicial process underway
SkyWest maintains that the former employees breached confidentiality agreements that prohibited them from disclosing information to which they had access through their work. The company requests a jury trial and monetary compensation, the amount of which will be determined during the process.
For its part, Moussaron's defense has requested the dismissal of the case for lack of jurisdiction and argues that it is a labor dispute. Moussaron's legal representative has declared that his client did not evade SkyWest's security measures nor did he unauthorizedly access contact information, since the data was visible with the credentials and permissions assigned by the company.
"He was visible with the credentials and authorizations that SkyWest assigned him" - Jonathan Thorne, defense attorney
The defense argues that the conduct indicated is protected by the Railway Labor Act and that there was no undue access nor use of confidential information, but rather utilization of an online directory available for employees.
The case remains under judicial investigation and, for the moment, no date has been set for the oral hearing.