New turn in Spirit Airlines data sale as union and Google agree

In October 2026, 114 lawmakers told Google to stop the Spirit Airlines data sale. They wrote that removal of names does not always make data safe for use.

Earlier: 114 lawmakers tell Google to stop a Spirit Airlines data deal

This week, Google and the Association for Flight Attendants, a union of 55,000 members, agreed new terms for the sale of data from Spirit Airlines. The airline stopped work this year. It sells records from many years to Google for $10 million, with 1.99 billion emails in the records. The union tells that the first safeguards would not stop serious violations of privacy. A judge must give approval next week.

How it works

Spirit Airlines must use Tonic AI, a company that removes data that names a person from the records. Tonic AI must NOT INCLUDE data that can connect to a customer or an employee. It must also make sure that no one can connect the cleaned data to a person. Google agreed to keep the data in that shape.

What is left out

The sale does not include many sensitive records:

• medical records of employees
• documents on investigations and labor relations
• information about safety management systems for all the industry

What is not known

Google can stop the sale if the removal of data cuts more than 8 percent of the assets. The documents give no test of the method. An airline trade group tells that safety data in the sale could make employees report safety problems less frequently. Google gave no comment.

Insight: The union won privacy, but Google kept an exit

In October 2026, 114 lawmakers told that removal of names does not always make data safe for use. In November 2026, brokers gave a price of $350,000 to $1.8 million for company records. The 8 percent clause reads as a limit on the privacy that employees get, because Google can stop when removal cuts the value. For leaders: employee records have a price at this time.