American Airlines Pilots Urge Court To Block Google Buying Spirit Crews' Confidential Data

Credit: InfoDaksh | Shutterstock Published Oct 3, 2026, 11:35 AM EDT Luke has over a decade of experience as a travel writer and aviation analyst. As a passionate traveler based across the Middle East and Asia, Luke offers strong insights into the industry. Based in South East Asia. Sign in to your Simple Flying account The union representing American Airlines pilots wants to block the proposed sale of Spirit Airlines' internal data to Google, warning that the deal could threaten safety reporting across the airline industry. The Allied Pilots Association (APA) filed an objection on Tuesday, stating that the confidential data of more than 700 ex-Spirit pilots now at American is included in the dataset. Google won a bankruptcy auction for Spirit's corporate records in August with a $10 million bid, and has said the data could be used to train its AI models. However, there has been significant opposition across the industry, with APA's objection joining those from the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA). Pilots Warn Google's Spirit Data Deal Could Threaten Safety Reporting Credit: marchello74 | Shutterstock In its filing with the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, APA — which represents around 16,000 American Airlines pilots — said it opposed the sale as it would disclose former Spirit Airlines pilots' "confidential employment and training-related information" that could negatively impact voluntary safety and training programs. As reported by Business Insider, APA said the deal "threatens to have a chilling effect across all commercial airlines," because pilots participate in voluntary safety and training programs with the expectation that the information they provide will remain confidential. US airlines rely on such programs to allow pilots to report mistakes and safety concerns without fear of facing disciplinary action. However, the union argues that if crews feel their records could later be sold or disclosed publicly, they would be less willing to come forward regarding safety issues. As such, it has asked the court to reject the sale until concerns over crew data are addressed. APA said in its filing: "To permit that information to later be sold to a third-party without ensuring complete deidentification and satisfactory confidentiality protections will serve to threaten the voluntary safety and training programs that provide the backbone of the commercial aviation industry in the United States." Why Pilots Want Safety Data Kept Out Of The Deal Credit: DC Studio | Shutterstock The dataset reportedly includes around 100 million emails and 500 million Microsoft Teams items, along with more than 175,000 employee records dating back to 1986. Spirit's operational records are also included, covering more than 763,000 flights and five million crew pairings. Data Bid On By Google Type Volume Emails 100 million Microsoft Teams items 500 million SharePoint items 20.5 million OneDrive files 17 million Payroll records 3.4 million Employee records (dating back to 1986) 175,000+ Flights covered 763,000+ Crew pairings 5 million In its own objection, ALPA requested that safety records be excluded, even if each record has been deidentified. This would include data on fatigue management, the Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP), Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) and Line Operations Safety Assessments (LOSA). Each of these plays a crucial role in how US airlines identify safety risks before they lead to incidents. ASAP lets pilots and other employees report errors and safety concerns confidentially, without facing company discipline or FAA enforcement action. FOQA analyzes flight data collected from aircraft, while LOSA uses trained observers to examine flight-deck operations. Flight Attendants Also Push Back On Data Sale Credit: YES Market Media | Shutterstock Former Spirit flight attendants have also opposed Google's deal. The AFA represents more than 5,500 former Spirit flight attendants and was the first union to object to the sale in August. The union has asked the court to exclude all flight attendant data from the sale, including training records, timecards and payroll information. It also warned that individuals could still be identified from records that have been deidentified through inference. This point was supported by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), which says deidentification is "not a magic wand" that fully anonymizes data. It added that, should the sale go through, it would "create incentives for employers to over-collect as much employee data as possible," so that they could maximize monetization of their data during potential bankruptcy. The dispute remains unresolved, with the bankruptcy court yet to approve Google's purchase. The hearing has been delayed several times as unions and other parties raise concerns about what information would ultimately be included in the dataset.