Google’s $10 million purchase of a vast archive of Spirit Airlines’ internal data—which includes employee emails—has run into opposition from flight attendants, who argue that the privacy protections attached to the deal do not adequately cover sensitive information. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents flight attendants nationwide, filed an objection in US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York challenging the proposed sale of the airline’s digital records to Google.
“The privacy architecture of this transaction is consumer-facing; its payload is disproportionately employee-facing,” the filing states. “Hence, the employee data is far more confidential than the customer data, yet receives far less protection than the customer data.”
Spirit Airlines has been one of America’s best-known low-cost airlines, building business off of affordable flights and charging separately for services. But its collapse has led investors and stakeholders to sell off the company’s remaining assets, which include physical and digital property.
The dispute creates a wrinkle in Google’s effort to turn the remains of the bankrupt airline into fuel for its AI ambitions. The tech giant won a bankruptcy auction for $10 million, beating AI recruiting company Mercor who offered $7.5 million. The transaction includes roughly 100 million emails and 500 million Microsoft Teams messages—along with spreadsheets, calendars, software code and other internal business records.
