Updated October 2026
Why unions, a vendor and lawmakers objected to the Spirit data sale
Employees
Flight attendants, dispatchers, mechanics and pilots
The Association of Flight Attendants asked the court to exclude flight attendant information or put limits on how it is segregated, used, profiled and passed on, saying the sale lacked a screen for employee confidentiality. The Professional Airline Flight Control Association (PAFCA) adopted that objection, and the IAM and TWU Local 570 joined it, adding that de-identification practices may need rethinking now that AI is involved.1
The Air Line Pilots Association took a narrower line. It argued that safety-program data could identify individual pilots, and Skift reports ALPA's warning that re-identification risk could chill voluntary participation in confidential FAA safety programs across the industry.1,3
| Fact | Value and source |
|---|---|
| Objections to the Spirit data sale | Six objections or joinders filed 2026-08-18 to 2026-09-04: AFA-CWA, Springshot, PAFCA, International Aero Engines, IAM and TWU Local 570, and ALPA |
| Pilots' objection | ALPA argued that re-identification risk could chill voluntary participation in confidential FAA safety programs across the industry |
Companies
A software vendor and an engine maker
Springshot, which supplied software to Spirit, cited a SaaS agreement giving it ownership of any data or information generated by its service, while saying it did not want to stop the sale. International Aero Engines said its proprietary information, held under confidentiality agreements, is not estate property, and asked for it to be excluded or removed.4,1
Outside the court
Lawmakers and a privacy group
The letter from 121 members of Congress was led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Steven Horsford and addressed to the chief executives of Spirit and Google. The Electronic Privacy Information Center filed an amicus brief. Skift reports the approval hearing has been delayed several times and is now set for 2026-11-06.2,5
What changed
What the objections have already changed
Google removed its timecard dataset along with four customer-facing sets and held its price. The ombudsman then recommended approval, but said she did not assess risks to employees or third parties, which is exactly the ground most objectors stand on.6,7
For anyone planning a sale of a company archive, the pattern is plain: employee records and a vendor's contract terms are where the challenges came from. Some buyers already exclude these up front. SimpleClosure leaves out sensitive employee and health records, and micro1's Spirit filing proposed destroying raw employment records after processing.8,9
FAQ
Questions, answered with sources
AFA-CWA, Springshot, PAFCA, International Aero Engines, IAM and TWU Local 570, and ALPA, in filings from 2026-08-18 to 2026-09-04.1
It asked for flight attendant information to be excluded or for limits on its use and onward transfer, arguing the sale had no employee-confidentiality screen.1
121, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Steven Horsford, according to Skift.2
She recommended approval on 2026-10-05 but said she did not assess the risks to employees or third parties.7
Google dropped its timecard dataset and four customer-facing datasets on 2026-09-09, with the price unchanged at $10.0M.6
We do not answer legal questions. Ask the licensing company: their team reviews this with you before anything is signed.
Before you sign
Legal questions go to the licensing company
We do not answer legal questions. Ask the licensing company before you sign: their team reviews these with you.
Questions for this kind of business
- How do you screen employee records and HR mail out of an archive before it leaves our systems?
- Do NLRA or union contract questions affect a license of our internal communications?
- How are employee data, union contracts and NLRA questions handled?
- Do customer, vendor or platform contracts, NDAs or API terms restrict this?
- Who owns this data: the company, an estate, or someone else?
Questions for any buyer
- Is the license exclusive, and for how long?
- Can you sublicense the data, and to whom?
- Which AI labs will receive it, and will you tell us?
- How long do you keep it, and how is it deleted?
- What is your liability cap, and who indemnifies whom?
- Will the contract ban re-identification of people in the data?
- Who removes personal data, by what method, and do we approve it first?