Why Ex-Spirit Airlines Flight Attendants Aren't Happy About Google's Large Data Purchase

Published Sep 1, 2026, 3:00 PM EDT Writer - Patricia joins Simple Flying with over 20 years of experience in aviation. She has served as cabin crew on flights from economy-class through to first-class and on private jets as well as being head of cabin crew and cabin safety focal point. Patricia has a master's level postgraduate diploma in Human Factors in Aviation and has written about aviation since 2010. Based in Dubai/Cyprus. In an unusual case, Google bid $10 million on the corporate data from Spirit Airlines, which stopped flying in May this year. One could ask: what could Google want from this data that includes things like emails, messages, and lines of code? The purpose of the acquisition has been questioned, and the specific information they have is unknown at this stage. Google beat out AI training data startups, such as Mercor, proving how valuable private corporate data has become. It is controversial due to privacy laws and the potential for confidential information to be released, so it's understandable that Spirit Airlines ex-employees such as flight attendants are unhappy about the move. In this guide, we will explore what this could mean and what the outcome might be. What Did Google Receive, And Why Did They Bid For It? Credit: Shutterstock Google won a bankruptcy auction on August 14 with a $10 million bid for Spirit Airlines' internal enterprise dataset, outbidding AI data firm Mercor's $7.5 million bid. Another AI data company, Micro1, submitted a higher bid of $12.5 million after the auction closed. But why is there such a bidding war for the data of a failed airline? AI companies have been competing to build the best AI coding agent and to use publicly available code from the internet to train these models. Teaching agents to perform other kinds of white-collar work may require data that is largely private and buried in corporate emails and chats, according to Time. AI companies are moving quickly to acquire bankrupt companies' data to improve their AI models in areas such as customer service and financial services. These companies are willing to pay for this new valuable source of training material. This dataset is extraordinary in scale with roughly 600 million email and chat records generated by 17,000 employees, including about 100 million emails, 500 million Microsoft Teams items, 17 million OneDrive files, 20.5 million SharePoint items, more than 30 million recorded customer service calls, 15 million chat records, and 600,000 ServiceNow tickets, alongside operational data covering over 763,000 flights, five million crew pairings, 1.2 million fuel slips and purchase records for 787,452 parts according to The Register. It is understandable why Spirit's ex-employees could be concerned. Why Spirit Airlines Flight Attendants Are Upset Credit: Spirit Airlines The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which still represents Spirit Airlines flight attendants, filed a limited objection in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. They argue that the tranche includes sensitive, decades-old employee and workplace records. Union president Sara Nelson said the AFA is objecting to the sale of data that, in its view, should not be sold at all. The union is seeking specific restrictions on flight attendant employee data and additional contractual protections in any approved version. They say that all personal data should be removed, but the dataset would maintain “referential integrity,” meaning that links between data types would be preserved. This is what makes the data useful to train AI systems. The union also said it may allow the use of anonymous information. They are asking for additional privacy protection. “This is outrageous! We are filing a court objection to Google’s attempt to buy data that has no business being sold,” Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which continues to represent more than 5,500 of Spirit’s flight attendants, told Forbes. Nelson also publicly criticized Spirit Airlines for attempting to monetize its workforce after the airline collapsed. She pointed out that former flight attendants still have not been paid their accrued vacation time, sick leave, and outstanding compensation. Using their private conversations to train AI models without their consent was blasted by the union as corporate exploitation and "adding insult to injury," according to Fortune. How Will Google Use This Data? Credit: Shutterstock Google wants Spirit’s internal corporate files to teach AI how actual businesses operate behind closed doors. This could include things like handling disputes and customer complaints, writing code, and managing logistics. AI models can be trained on publicly available information, but AI developers struggle to find new data, making this kind of business data invaluable. Operational records are useful for developing AI agents that perform real workplace tasks. In addition, they have a 34-year operating history of the airline from start to finish. Therefore, Google can use AI assistants to solve travel issues in the complex world of aviation, including flight disruptions, dynamic pricing, and customer refunds. AI companies’ long-term goal is to automate large sectors of the economy; that's more likely why they wanted the data from Spirit. They can gain insight into how the aviation industry operates and use it to improve their products and AI models. It is thought that the data would be 'scrubbed' by a third party to remove all personal data before delivery to Google. A court-appointed third-party ombudsman will oversee a process known as “deidentification,” which requires “reasonable measures” to anonymize data so it cannot be linked to individuals. “The privacy architecture of this transaction is consumer-facing; its payload is disproportionately employee-facing,” the AFA argued. “Hence, the employee data is far more confidential than the customer data, yet receives far less protection than the customer data.” Privacy Concerns Credit: Shutterstock Understandably, there are privacy concerns. Indeed, the AFA says the agreement’s language does not address confidential records. “With a group the size of the Spirit flight attendant population, our union has significant concerns that it may be possible that information about identifiable individuals or small identifiable groups can still be reconstructed and determined,” the union said in a statement. The AFA is concerned about the underlying confidentiality of disciplinary records, payroll history, and internal communications, saying the deal’s privacy provisions are designed to protect consumers, specifically passengers, but not employee data. The union argued that even when de-identified, disciplinary records, training deficiencies, and medical or accommodation requests are still sensitive. In smaller data batches, such as crew bases, it’s possible to infer who is being discussed from communication and operations datasets, the union said. The AFA asked the court to reject the sale unless changes are made to exclude all flight attendant information, including training records, time cards, and payroll, as well as any Microsoft 365 content containing flight attendant data. To protect workers, the AFA asked the court to deny approval of the sale until Google agrees to exclude all flight attendant information from the purchase and to notify workers when Google allows a third party to access the data. Possible Outcomes Credit: Flickr Google says it acquired part of an enterprise dataset that may help improve its products and AI models, and told CNN it will not receive personal information. It has been said that Google is not interested in acquiring customers’ personal information, including loyalty membership or credit card details, according to a Forbes article. Florida-based Spirit shut down on May 2 amid its second Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection in two years due to surging fuel prices and failed financing talks. The airline filed for bankruptcy with about $8.1 billion in debt and eventually laid off roughly 17,000 employees. Issues included surging jet fuel prices linked to the Middle East conflict, ongoing liquidity shortages, and the failure to secure a $500 million federal rescue deal. The carrier had previously navigated two bankruptcy filings starting in late 2024. The sale of data is unusual because Spirit was the first significant US airline in 25 years to halt operations entirely rather than be absorbed by another carrier. In contrast, normally an acquiring airline takes the data along with the business. US bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane's hearing, originally set for August 19, has been pushed to September 9 to review the labor and privacy challenges. Looking Ahead Credit: Shutterstock Spirit Airlines has been selling off its remaining assets through the bankruptcy process ever since its closure. While most of that is aircraft, equipment, and real estate, there’s now something else to consider: an airline's data. In the era of artificial intelligence, data is being used to train new AI models to perform more operational tasks than ever before. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) has formally challenged the proposed sale of Spirit Airlines’ data to Google and says that the agreement provides stronger protections for customer data than for employee records, leaving flight attendants and other staff potentially exposed to privacy risks. The data has been stripped of anything that could identify individuals, according to the court filing. AFA-CWA is urging the court to exclude all flight attendant data from the transaction and has stated it will continue to oppose the sale until stronger safeguards are adopted. Amid controversy and privacy concerns, the proposed deal cannot proceed until it receives approval from the bankruptcy court, which will determine whether the current privacy protections are sufficient and whether any employee records should be removed before data is transferred to Google.