Quick aside before the docket: the video I posted this week is nearing 100,000 views across platforms. I have no way to prove what’s happening in the case this week is directly correlated to that. But, the timing lines up close enough that I'm not ruling it out. Either way — THANK- YOU!! Views don't pay back wages, but they build the kind of attention that makes it a lot harder for anyone to quietly slide a data sale past 17,000 former employees. More on that below…
The Unions We Asked About? They Showed Up…(finally)
Last issue I pointed out that AFA had filed a detailed privacy objection to the Google data sale. And, I asked, out loud, why ALPA, IAM, TWU, and PAFCA hadn’t joined in yet, given that their members’ records are sitting in the same dataset. This week, three of them answered.
On August 25, the Professional Airline Flight Control Association filed a notice adopting AFA’s objection outright, aimed at keeping confidential employee workspace records out of the sale. Then on August 28, the International Association of Machinists (roughly 293 below-the-wing workers) and Transport Workers Union Local 570 (roughly 274 Guest Service Agents) filed a joint response joining AFA’s objection too. Their filing makes the sharpest argument I’ve seen yet in this fight: that AI models are now good enough to reassemble “deidentified” email and payroll records and re-identify individual workers, and they’re asking the court to treat that as a real risk instead of a theoretical one!
The Proprietary Data Fight Isn’t Just About Employees Anymore
The same week, International Aero Engines filed its own limited objection and cross-motion — not about employee privacy, but about IAE’s own confidentiality agreements. IAE wants the court to exclude its proprietary information (technical publications, engine support agreements, internal emails about those agreements) from the sale entirely, citing:
its 2021 Neo Engine Purchase Support Agreement and,
a 2015 Technical Publications Agreement as binding on Spirit regardless of bankruptcy.
Worth sitting with: this data sale is now being fought on two fronts, by FIVE separate parties — four unions and a major aerospace supplier — and none of them are objecting to the $10 million price tag.
They’re objecting to what’s actually inside the box.
That should tell you something about what’s IN the box!
Ameer Flippin Went From Procedural Mess, to Full Emergency Appeal
Last issue I flagged that Ameer Flippin, the pro se bidder behind Harlem Park Partners, was running into the basic problem that corporations can’t represent themselves in federal court without a lawyer. This week he stopped trying to work around that quietly and went nuclear on it.
After the court’s August 19 oral ruling against him, he filed an emergency motion for reconsideration on August 21, then a limited objection to the Bidding Procedures Order on August 24 signaling he’d seek a stay. Same day, he filed an emergency motion for leave to appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 158(a)(3), directly challenging the ruling that blocked him from proceeding pro se.
On August 25, he filed a formal notice of appeal alongside an emergency ex-parte motion asking the court to stay the September 9 aircraft auction and extend the bid deadline for the 27 EETC-financed aircraft — arguing that going forward with the auction before his appeal is resolved would permanently kill his right to bid.
Five filings in five days.
Whether any of it actually pauses September 9 is the next thing to watch.
The Numbers, Briefly
The Debtors filed the July Monthly Operating Reports on August 24. Combined ending cash across all six entities: $278,900,848, with the overwhelming majority — $266,872,201 — sitting at Spirit Airlines, LLC itself. Against that, the combined estate is carrying a negative equity of $5,248,742,256!
That gap is the entire reason every dollar in this case, including the $10 million from Google, is getting fought over this hard.
Also Closed Out This Week
A few things got resolved without drama: the court signed off on the Third Interim Fee Applications for the professional firms running this case (Davis Polk, Morris Nichols, FTI, Debevoise, Willkie Farr), approved final sale orders for the Campus Properties and the Flight Training Equipment, and made the exclusivity extension official — Debtors now have until December 24 to file a plan and until February 19, 2027 to solicit votes on it. Mastercard and Verizon both dropped their contract objections after Spirit pulled those agreements off the assumption list.
Bottom Line
September 9 is now doing double duty — it’s the rescheduled hearing on the data sale and the date of the aircraft auction Flippin is trying to stop. Whichever way both go, that’s the day this case either gets a real privacy backstop or it doesn’t, and either finds a way to keep Flippin’s bid alive or it doesn’t.
And if anyone reaches out asking for anything tied to your name, your employment, or your history at Spirit — corporate acquisition or otherwise — be careful.
That’s not getting less true as this case drags on.
— The Unpaid Employee | spiritdidnotpayme.com