Spirit flight attendants union opposes Google's data purchase in bankruptcy court

Published Aug 19, 09:29 PM UTC

A U.S. bankruptcy court has delayed approval of Google's proposed $10 million purchase of Spirit Airlines' data after former Spirit flight attendants, represented by a labor union, objected. The union filed an objection with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan on Tuesday, arguing the deal could violate worker privacy by feeding confidential flight attendant information into artificial intelligence models. The union demands that the agreement explicitly exclude all confidential flight attendant data from the sale, or at minimum grant it the same protections afforded to consumer information. The case highlights growing tensions between data monetization in bankruptcy proceedings and worker privacy rights, particularly as AI development drives demand for large datasets.