UpTrajectory Review

Spirit Airlines is gone, but the data of the roughly 97 million people who booked flights with it is still very much alive, and Google wants it. Business Insider reports that a court-appointed consumer privacy ombudsman has recommended approving Google's $10 million winning bid for Spirit's data, after the companies agreed to strip out passenger databases and bring in a third party, Tonic.ai, to de-identify anything that might still contain personal information. The ombudsman, Lucy Thomson, said the changes eliminate or mitigate the privacy risk. The deal still needs a judge's sign-off, and unions representing Spirit's former flight attendants and pilots, plus the union for American Airlines pilots, are fighting it.

If you run a small business, this story is not really about an airline. It is about what happens to the customer data you collect when your company dies. Spirit's collapse is turning into a live demonstration of how customer information becomes a sellable asset in bankruptcy, subject to auction, court oversight, and privacy objections, but ultimately available to the highest bidder. If you have ever reassured a customer that their email or booking history stays with you, this case is a reminder that 'with you' may only last as long as your company does. Owners should think hard about what their privacy policies actually promise, and whether those promises survive insolvency.

The genuinely contested piece here is not whether Google gets the data, but what 'de-identified' actually means in practice. The ombudsman's filing says the companies revised the scope, excluded passenger databases, and hired Tonic.ai to scrub personal details. That is more than many data sales bother with, and it is fair to credit the process. But de-identification is notoriously fragile, and the unions are raising a separate and underappreciated objection: that pilot and flight attendant data could affect aviation safety, not just privacy. That angle has gotten far less attention than the consumer framing, and it is the one most likely to complicate the judge's decision.

The downstream effects cut in a few directions. For consumers, the case sets a precedent that even a defunct company's data trove can be repurposed to train AI models, which is what Google says it wants the data for. For workers, especially pilots whose records may include training, medical, or disciplinary history, the sale raises questions about who controls professional data after an employer disappears. And for the broader market, a $10 million price tag on a bankrupt airline's data tells every distressed company that its customer lists have real liquidation value, which could make data sales a more routine feature of Chapter 7 wind-downs.

Watch for the judge's ruling on the sale, and for whether the unions' aviation-safety argument gains any traction, because that objection is different in kind from the usual privacy complaints and could force narrower terms. If you are a business owner, the actionable takeaway is to audit what customer data you hold, what your terms of service say about transfer or sale, and whether you are collecting more than you could defend in a bankruptcy proceeding. Data minimization is not just a compliance exercise; it is a way to make sure that if your company ever ends up in Spirit's position, there is less to fight over.

“The parties have taken consequential steps to protect the privacy of the personal data of the Spirit consumers” — Business Insider

Takeaway: Audit what customer data you collect and what your terms say about its sale, because bankruptcy courts may treat it as a liquid asset.