Originally Posted by
JamesNoBrakes
I've never heard of anyone FOIAing records such as an airman file without the consent of the airman. If it wasn't required, the airlines wouldn't ask for the consent and would just do it.
Consent is not required for FOIA, that's the whole point... to get info the government would just as soon not release.
Airlines likely get consent just because they can, and it maybe protects them from any question of impropriety.
Or more likely they get consent so that the FOIA request will also return some privacy-protected info. You can FOIA almost anything about yourself, including privacy info but excluding classified/law enforcement investigation info. Your consent would grant that to a third party, so they can see what you can see.
But it doesn't hurt to try it and see what happens, all they can do is say no. May not be quick though.