Google Just Bought Spirit's Data for $10 Million and Got a Steal

0:10Sarah Dandashy: Google just bought Spirit Airlines data to train its AI. The UK is cracking down on hidden travel fees, and Delta's pilot scheduling talks just broke down, which matters if you are flying them this fall. It's Friday, August 21st. I'm Sarah Dandashy, and this is the Skiff Daily Briefing. So first up, Spirit Airlines is gone, but its data lives on. Google just won a bankruptcy auction for Spirit's business data and software code for just$10 million. Now here's what Google is getting. Pricing models, booking patterns, flight behavior data, in-flight purchase records, about 100 million emails, and payroll records going back to 1986.

0:50Sarah Dandashy: Google says that it will use all of it to improve its AI models. And to be clear, Spirit's 97.5 million passenger records are not part of the deal. Thank goodness. Personal information will be scrubbed. But think about what this means. An airline collapses and one of the world's biggest tech companies walks away with decades of pricing intelligence for just$10 million. That's less than what JetBlue paid for Spirit's LaGuardia slots. The data is worth a lot more and Google knows it. Next up, if you've ever gotten to the end of a travel booking and been surprised by fees that weren't in the original price, I think we all have, the UK is trying to fix that.

1:27Sarah Dandashy: Britain's competition regulator just opened formal investigations into Virgin Atlantic Holidays and train line for drip pricing. That is basically hiding mandatory fees until the very end of checkout. Things like resort fees, local taxes, booking charges that can add up hundreds of dollars onto a trip. Now, the regulator can now fine companies up to 10 % of global revenue without going to court. Train line stock dropped more than 20 % after the announcement. Understandably so. The U.S. has patchy rules on this. A federal rule requiring upfront hotel pricing went into effect just last year, and we've covered that.

2:05Sarah Dandashy: But a similar rule for airlines was struck down in court. So always scroll to the final price before you assume you know what you're paying. And finally, Delta has long been the most reliable U.S. airline, but its reputation is under pressure. The airline has already canceled more than 10 ,600 flights in just the first six months of this year. And between July and mid-August, its cancellation rate hit 3.4 percent. That's higher than both American and United Airlines and very out of character. The cause? Scheduling changes from last year's pilot contract or straining operations. Delta tried to fix it fast through expedited talks with its pilots union, but those talks just broke down.

2:44Sarah Dandashy: And the union says Delta expanded its demands beyond what was agreed. Negotiations will resume in September. So if you are flying Delta this fall, like I am, build in extra buffer time. A fix isn't coming before the busy fall travel season. Well, that's it for your Skiff Daily Briefing. For more industry news, head to skiff.com. And as always, subscribe at skiff.com backslash daily. Thank you.