The flight attendants want assurance that their confidential information will be removed from the sale of the defunct airline's digital records. A bankruptcy court delayed approval of Google's $10 million purchase of Spirit Airlines' data after former flight attendants objected, warning that the deal could violate worker privacy to feed artificial intelligence models.

A labor union representing thousands of former Spirit flight attendants asked the court to decline the transaction unless the agreement expressly provides that all confidential flight attendant information is excluded from the sale or at least receives the same protection as consumer information, according to an objection filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan on Tuesday.

The objection highlights growing tensions between corporate data monetization and employee privacy rights in the AI era. Union representatives argue that flight attendant records—including scheduling, performance evaluations, and personal details—constitute sensitive workforce data that should not be commodified without explicit consent or safeguards.

Google's proposed acquisition aims to leverage Spirit's operational data for AI model training, but the flight attendants' challenge may set a precedent for how bankrupt companies' digital assets are handled when they contain employee information. The court's ruling could influence future data sales involving workforce records across industries.