Google has acquired the data of failed US airline Spirit • Hacker News Board

Re: Google has acquired the data of failed US airline Spirit

#451

Post by GuB-42 » Wed, Aug 19, 2026, 7:10 PM UTC

mariuolo wrote: post #207

xrd wrote: post #19

About twenty years ago, I was taking a flight back from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to the US. In the middle of the night the pilot got on the loudspeaker and said "hi! Having some engine trouble, so we are landing in Manaus." Manaus is in the middle of the Amazon. Needless to say, a bit scary to hear that, but we landed without issue. They told us we had two choices: the nice hotel with a shared room, or the lesser nice…

> I got a really strange response over email which I clearly wasn't supposed to see. A representative from that airline was asking internally if they could put me on the no-fly list. That was really chilling. What if they only pretended to forward it to you by mistake and you /were/ supposed to see it? As in "it would be a shame if you could never fly again".

It struck me as something that could be particularly clever.

It is clearly a threat, and most likely a bluff. But should it be brought to court, they could claim it was indeed internal communication (and that you should feel bad for reading it in the first place). There may even be an internal response saying "no you can't be put on the no-fly list", which isn't forwarded to you of course, to keep up with the masquerade.

Re: Google has acquired the data of failed US airline Spirit

#452

Post by stephenhuey » Wed, Aug 19, 2026, 10:12 PM UTC

teachrdan wrote: post #450

stephenhuey wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry man, your "just goes to show" ain't gonna cut it. Yes, I want better perks when the going gets rough, but it's not enough to blame only the c-suite and shareholders. This isn't software dev. Prior discussion on the article I shared in the other comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48025282

> Yes, I want better perks when the going gets rough Maybe you're not understanding what we're saying. There have been numerous comments remarking on flights that were delayed or canceled due to corporate decisions, which reduce to excess savings on (or insufficient investment in) maintenance and staffing. This has nothing to do with "better perks"! Every dollar of profit is a dollar that could have been spent on mai…

I will be clear: I don't want to stand in line for 3 hours at Frankfurt with a MacBook Pro and a million other things in my backpack to be offered only a faraway hotel I don't want, no vouchers or cash, just take it or leave it, and no other compensation, and my luggage being lost for literally 11 weeks.

My understanding is that a portion of net profits might go towards rewarding shareholders through buybacks (bolstering the stock price), but most of it is reinvested into the business, i.e. exactly what you are saying you wish they would do. A windfall enables them to purchase more aircraft and pay down debt accumulated in the years they do not make much in profit, of which there were many in recent history. Is it too much profit? I don't know, but they're spending over $7 billion in capital expenditures this year.

I'm not sure what to say to you wanting them to have better tech. I wrote code for a major shipping company over 2 decades ago, and it's impressive to me that airlines mishandle bags at a far lower rate (under half a percent) than UPS and Fedex which usually are around 3-5%. I'm not a logistics expert. Will things get better with robots or something? Time will tell.

Re: Google has acquired the data of failed US airline Spirit

#453

Post by breakingcups » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 8:30 AM UTC

OliverGuy wrote: post #389

TeMPOraL wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I made the counter argument that watermarks would find their ways into everything and eventually be bound to attestation. Yup. Elsewhere in another front page thread today: "oh but apps blocking screenshots because of 'sensitive content' can be bypassed by taking a photo of your screen with another phone". Any tech-savvy person with two brain cells reading this and that: "gee, I wonder if the same magic imperceptib…

Not like that doesn't already exist, try scanning and printing a bank note (US, not sure if other countries have similar)

Yes, many, many countries use it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion_constellation

Re: Google has acquired the data of failed US airline Spirit

#454

Post by prepend » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 4:26 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #222

prepend wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since it’s work communications, consent was already given. When you join a company, you typically sign an agreement that talks about how the company owns all your output. Thumbs upping a Teams message is work output and they own it. Every email sent and received. Every keystroke. Etc etc etc. If you don’t want your employer to log and sell it, start your own company. Or use a personal device. I do the latter.

That's not consent. It's a one-sided condition of employment. Consent would imply a meeting of the minds and a way for each employee to negotiate, or opt-out without losing employment. It's like saying I consent to my phone company's 200 page long terms and conditions. Corporate America has a very fucked up definition of consent, and they seem to have spread that definition broadly.

It’s legal consent. It’s the version that matters if you’re trying to limit what your employer can do with everything you write at work. And sufficient to allow anything in the US, and many other countries.

I disagree with this and think it’s a bad thing. If I founded a company, I would explicitly disallow this and make communications private and not resellable.

But it exists, sadly.

Re: Google has acquired the data of failed US airline Spirit

#455

Post by will4274 » Sat, Aug 22, 2026, 7:03 AM UTC

crote wrote: post #437

badestrand wrote: post #428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should the entire flight be compensated? The airline provided the flight, just 24 hours later (and the delay is what the $100 are supposed to compensate).

Because the customer purchased a flight on a specific date , which was not delivered. If you book a hotel room for 1-7 August to visit a conference, would you be okay if they said "oopsie, it'll be available for you 10-17 August, here's a $100 compensation"? What about a rental car, or food delivery? Is it okay for your wedding photographer to show up a day late? Of course not, the product you bought is inherently ti…

Many businesses have a notion of partial delivery. If you hire a contractor to build an extension on your house and they get sick halfway through the project and hand off to another contractor who completes it a few weeks or even months late, you don't get it for free.

Re: Google has acquired the data of failed US airline Spirit

#456

Post by saaaaaam » Mon, Aug 24, 2026, 5:18 PM UTC

throwaway2037 wrote: post #380

DanielHB wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a german last name, do you know how often people outside Brazil act weird when they learn I am Brazilian? My grandparents came to Brazil right after WW1 way before the Nazis came to power. High ranking Nazis fled to south america because there were a lot of germans living there already. Nearly all german people who moved to south america did it way before WW2. I just run into this stuff a lot living in Europe.

> I have a german last name, do you know how often people outside Brazil act weird when they learn I am Brazilian? I am surprised by this in the 2020s. Supermodel Gisele Bündchen is probably the world's most famous German-heritage Brazillian. She has been famous for at least 20 years.

I am not that familiar with her but had no idea she is Brazilian. I assumed she was German.

Re: Google has acquired the data of failed US airline Spirit

#457

Post by martin_a » Thu, Aug 27, 2026, 5:15 PM UTC

pibaker wrote: post #420

martin_a wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's exactly the case you would insure yourself against as an airline, so when shit hits the fan, you will not collapse.

How do you get an insurance for lost profits due to not making a meeting as an individual?

You don't. You file a claim with the airline for any losses, take them to civil court or whatever is needed to get your money back.

The airline itself should insure against such events, or rather what follows from them.