A US bankruptcy court has postponed a hearing to approve Google’s USD10 million acquisition of internal business data from bankrupt Spirit Airlines, following objections from the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA). The hearing is now scheduled for September 9, 2026.
The union, which represents Spirit’s cabin crew, is seeking restrictions on the transfer of flight attendant data and additional protections for former employees. The data includes employee emails, Microsoft Teams messages, spreadsheets, calendars, and marketing, productivity, and operations records, which Google intends to use for product development and AI model training.
Spirit has said the records will be de-identified before being transferred, with customer information and personally identifiable information removed. However, AFA argued that links between datasets will be preserved under the sale agreement, potentially allowing information concerning individuals or small groups to be reconstructed.
Meanwhile, AI training company Micro1 has submitted a late USD12.5 million offer for the data, Business Insider reported. The bid exceeds Google’s winning USD10 million offer at the original auction, where Google beat rival Mercor’s USD7.5 million bid. Micro1 is reportedly working to submit details of its proposal to the bankruptcy court, and reverse the sale.
