Unions Clear Google's $10 Million Buy of Spirit Airlines Data

Google's $10 million purchase of Spirit Airlines' internal data — including 500 million Microsoft Teams chats and 100 million emails — cleared a key privacy hurdle this week after aviation unions withdrew their objections in bankruptcy court.

The Association of Flight Attendants said Tuesday that it and other unions had reached an agreement with Google to protect the personal data of former Spirit staff. The union called the deal "an historic win for worker privacy protections."

Spirit shut down on May 2, 2026, and its assets went to auction. Google won the bidding in August to pay $10 million for a vast trove of internal records. The company has said the data would help improve its products and AI models.

The sale has been stuck in bankruptcy court over privacy concerns, particularly around details Spirit held on staff and customers.

What changed in the union deal?

Aviation unions and public-interest groups pulled their objections Monday night after striking a deal with Google over Spirit employees' data.

Under the agreement, Google will exclude data covering:

• Employees' medical and disability history
• Drug or alcohol testing records
• Payroll records
• And more, according to the AFA

The union also said it secured a more rigorous de-identification process than previously planned. Google is prohibited from attempting to reidentify the data.

"Worker data privacy in the age of AI has become a whole new worker's rights issue," said Sara Nelson, international president of the AFA-CWA.

"Without our union, there would have been no one to speak for workers in this fire sale of their private information. We fought and we won brand new protections," Nelson added. "Now we will take this issue to all of our employers to secure contractual protections, and demand lawmakers protect workers everywhere through federal and state law."

Who else pushed back?

The fight over the sale drew attention well beyond the courtroom. Last month, 121 members of Congress, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, raised concerns about the deal.

A court-appointed privacy ombudsman had already recommended approval after personal information on 97 million Spirit customers was excluded from the package.

Google, for its part, has pushed back on the framing. Last month the company said it was "not looking to buy any personal information from Spirit," Reuters reported.

"The information will either be completely excluded or will be de-identified by an independent third party before Google receives any data," the company said in a statement.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the union agreement.

What happens next?

With the unions' objections withdrawn, the path is largely clear for the $10 million sale to close in bankruptcy court. Nelson's pledge to push contractual data protections at other employers — and to demand federal and state legislation — signals that the fight over worker data in AI training sets is just beginning, even as this particular deal moves ahead.