US court delays hearing on Google’s purchase of Spirit Airlines data as union objects

On Tuesday, a U.S. bankruptcy court postponed a hearing to approve the sale of Spirit Airlines' internal business data to Google until September 9. This decision came after the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA), representing Spirit cabin crew, lodged an objection to the transaction. The data up for sale encompasses employee emails, Microsoft Teams messages, spreadsheets, calendars, marketing, productivity, and operation-related data.

Google intends to utilize this information for product enhancement and training its artificial intelligence models. The AFA has expressed its desire for restrictions on the sale of flight attendant employee data and additional safeguards for employees should the sale proceed. Spirit Airlines has assured that the records will be de-identified, devoid of any customer or personally identifiable information.

However, the union remains apprehensive, citing the preservation of dataset connections within the sale agreement which could potentially enable the reconstruction of information concerning individuals or small groups. Spirit Airlines is currently divesting its assets in bankruptcy, following the closure of its operations in May due to significant debt and escalating fuel costs.