Spirit Airlines and Google have reached a revised agreement for a $10 million data sale, resolving a major objection from labor unions regarding employee privacy. The updated terms ensure that sensitive worker information will be removed before the data is transferred to Google for artificial intelligence training. A court hearing to approve the final deal is scheduled for November 17.
Union Wins Privacy Protections
The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) successfully negotiated changes to the original proposal, which critics argued protected customer data but left employee records vulnerable. Sara Nelson, president of the AFA, stated that the union was essential in preventing what she described as a “fire sale” of private worker information.
Under the new terms, the data will be scrubbed by Tonic AI, a software company specializing in data deidentification. This process removes personal information tied to both employees and customers before the transfer. Google will pay the full $10 million and cover the additional costs associated with this privacy protection.
The union’s intervention addresses concerns that the initial deal did not adequately safeguard sensitive employee records. These records include medical examination results, payroll details, drug testing outcomes, crew pairings, biometric data, and union grievance filings. All such sensitive information is explicitly excluded from the sale.
Scope of Data Transfer
Google will receive a vast amount of internal corporate data to enhance its AI models. The transfer includes approximately 1.9 billion internal emails across 91,000 accounts. Additionally, the dataset contains 664 million Microsoft Teams items and 91 million SharePoint and OneDrive files.
The data also encompasses about 30 million lines of code. Commercial data such as Spirit’s booking curve, vacation package information, and airfare data are included in the sale. Google has committed to using this information solely to improve its AI capabilities.
Google must publicly commit to not intentionally or knowingly reidentifying the scrubbed data. This legal safeguard is a key component of the revised agreement, ensuring that the deidentified data cannot be traced back to specific individuals.
Spirit Airlines retains the right to sell its customer data list to other third parties in the hospitality, travel, or leisure industries. This provision allows the airline to continue monetizing customer information separately from the deal with Google.
The resolution of this dispute removes a significant obstacle for both companies. The upcoming court hearing on November 17 will determine if the revised terms meet all legal requirements for approval. If approved, the transaction will proceed as planned, marking a significant step in the intersection of airline data and AI development.
Source: Skift
