Spirit Flight Attendants Push Back Against Google Data Deal

A bankruptcy court has postponed approval of Google’s purchase of Spirit Airlines data amid objections from former flight attendants. Former Spirit flight attendants warned that the deal could violate worker privacy by allowing Google to use their information to train its AI models. 

A labor union representing former flight attendants filed an objection Tuesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, asking the court to reject the transaction unless the agreement excludes confidential flight attendant information.

Google to Acquire Spirit Airlines’ Data

Google won a bankruptcy auction for Spirit Airlines’ data with a $10 million bid. The deal includes decades of payroll information, travel and recruiting files, about 100 million emails, 80,000 email accounts, and millions of additional digital items.

Google said it plans to use Spirit’s data to improve its products, including its AI models. However, customer information is not part of the purchase. “We will not receive any personal information from this data set,” according to a Google spokesperson. The Google representative added, “Any data we receive will be rigorously scrubbed of any personally identifiable information by a third party before receipt.”

Former flight attendants objected, saying that while customer data is protected, the deal lacks safeguards for their information. 

Customer vs. Employee Data

The sale agreement stipulates that data should be “deidentified,” removing information that would link it to a consumer.

The union counters, “deidentification addresses whether a record can be traced to a named individual. It does not address whether the contents of the record are confidential.”

The union also said the transaction treats customer and employee information differently. While customer profiles, email addresses, loyalty data, and chat sessions are excluded from the deal, the sale includes all categories of data tied to former employees, including timecard information, payroll records, tax forms, and business travel records.

“The privacy architecture of this transaction is consumer-facing; its payload is disproportionately employee-facing,” according to the union.

The sale hearing has been postponed to September 9, giving the court more time to evaluate the claims.