A proposed $10 million sale of a trove of Spirit Airlines data to Google has been delayed by a federal bankruptcy judge after unionized flight attendants raised privacy concerns.
The data is among a wide array of assets being sold by the defunct airline, which ceased operations on May 2 and has been winding down its business under the supervision of a U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York.
Last week, Google was declared the winner of an auction for most of Spirit’s “deidentified data,” which includes 7.5 billion transaction records going back to 2008. The data haul also includes 100 million emails, 500 million Microsoft Teams chats and information about aircraft operations, audits and employee productivity, according to an extensive asset list in the court file.
While Google is buying Spirit’s internal data and custom software, it is not acquiring customer or credit card information, according to the asset list which appears as an exhibit in the court file.
“We’re acquiring part of an enterprise dataset from Spirit Airlines, which can be helpful in improving our products and AI models,” a Google spokesman said in an emailed statement. “We will not receive any personal information from this dataset. Any data we receive will be rigorously scrubbed of any personally identifiable information by a third party before receipt.”
The neutral party will be appointed by the court. A written provision to that effect appears in the bill of sale, which also appears in court documents.
Google outbid Mercor.io Group, a 3-year-old AI talent recruiting firm based in San Francisco that offered $7.5 million for the data. According to court files, Mercor.io was named as the backup buyer if the Google transaction fails to go through.
But the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents several thousand Spirit attendants, filed a motion with the court objecting to the deal until it is satisfied that the union members’ privacy is preserved.
“Deidentification addresses whether a record can be traced to a named individual,” the union’s filing said. “It does not address whether the contents of the record are confidential.”
The union said it is not trying to block the data sale. But it said it is not confident that a process designed to remove identifying information will preserve the confidentiality of employee records such as payroll histories and internal communications.
A Spirit spokesperson said via email that the company “takes all data privacy concerns seriously and will continue to work with the appropriate parties to resolve any outstanding issues.”
The spokesperson also echoed Google’s statement, noting that a third party would “deidentify the data and certify that the data sold at auction is compliant with applicable privacy laws and regulations.”
A court hearing to approve the sale was scheduled for Wednesday, but U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane postponed the proceeding until Sept. 9.
Spirit has been in the process of auctioning off hundreds of millions in assets, including aircraft, ground equipment, airport takeoff and landing rights, and most recently, the company’s headquarters campus in Dania Beach, Florida. The Boston financial firm Hill City Capital submitted a winning bid of $93.25 million for the campus.