Flight Attendants Raise Safety Issue in Seeking FAA Regulation of Hours

Flight attendants are trying to get the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to set a maximum for hours they may work consecutively.

Their rationale: “Fatigued flight attendants will be less capable of protecting passengers in any emergency,” according to Matt Finucane, safety coordinator of the 22,000-member Assn. of Flight Attendants (AFA).

Testimony given to Congress in support of a bill that would require FAA regulation stressed safety rather than flight attendant fatigue as the reason for the request. One attendant described a three-day schedule in which she worked 35 hours and slept 14. Another cited a two-day period with 24 hours on duty, little rest and almost no time for meals.

Yet the FAA said at the hearings: “We agree that flight attendants have an important safety role. Our concern is that there needs to be a demonstrable safety basis to proceed with regulatory action since, unless safety issues are involved, the FAA does not play a role or take sides in what are otherwise labor-management issues.”

The FAA had said earlier that there is no evidence connecting flight attendant work hours and passenger safety.

The Air Transport Assn. (ATA), which represents the airlines, also opposes FAA regulation of flight attendant schedules.

“There’s no evidence or justification for this legislation on grounds of improved passenger safety,” an ATA spokesman said. “Flight attendants, while having important safety responsibilities, spend the largest share of their time on customer service.”

Flight-attendant schedules are negotiated by the AFA, which represents many, but not all, flight attendants. The bill would also apply to non-union flight attendants.

If the FAA does not set other standards, Finucane said the bill requires that flight attendants have no more than 14 hours of duty domestically and 16 hours internationally, with 10 hours of rest between work periods domestically and 12 internationally. Airlines not complying could be fined.

Most union contracts provide for an average duty time of 14 to 16 hours on domestic flights and 15 to 19 hours for international flights. Many contracts offer less than 10 hours of rest between work hours.

“These time periods are not too different from what the system is usually like now, but it puts these matters into a specific code and with a penalty for abuses,” Finucane said.

But carriers sometimes stretch work periods despite contract provisions, Finucane said. “Flight attendants may work longer than required out of fear of losing their jobs. Afterward, even if they file a grievance, flight schedulers would just get a slap on their hands.”

AFA has been asking for FAA regulation since the 1960s, Finucane said.

The FAA has agreed to review its position and respond by mid-September.