Excerpt from DEAR AFA (Aug 14)

As safety professionals we fought hard during United's bankruptcy to maintain our rest provisions not just for a quality of work life, but more importantly to maintain the rest that allows us to effectively perform our critical work.  The 8-in-24 legality is one of those important rest provisions that we fought hard for and successfully maintained.  

Section 7.D. covers this legality both in terms of scheduled flight time and within the actual operation.  In the domestic operation, we cannot be scheduled to fly over eight hours in a single duty period or within a 24 hour period without a prescribed interim rest.  If scheduled to fly more than 8 hours in a 24 hour period, a Flight Attendant must also have 2 hours of rest for every 1 hour flown in the previous duty period.  For example, if a Flight Attendant is scheduled to work a Boston to San Francisco transcon worth over six hours, the return trip worth about the same amount of time could mean that a crewmember works over 8 hours in a 24 hour period, but only if given a 2-for-1 rest in the middle of the ID.  Assuming that a Flight Attendant is scheduled to work a flight leaving Boston at 1800 and arriving in San Francisco at 2125, with a total flight time of 6 hours and 25 minutes, the total rest must equal twice the number of hours flown in the first duty period.  Therefore, a minimum of 12 hours and 50 minutes free from duty would satisfy the 2-for-1 rest provision.

In the actual operation, we may fly in excess of 8 hours but only to the point where we are next scheduled for a legal rest.  When this happens, the 8-in-24 rest protection then requires relief from duty for 16 hours at the next scheduled or rescheduled point of rest.  This 16 hour rest essentially resets the clock.  Consider too that duty time limitations in Section 7.I.4. on page 48 of our Contract may require an end to the duty day prior to exceeding 8 hours of flight time.  The real value in this industry-leading legality is ensuring adequate rest after working 8 or more hours of flight time.

There is one narrow exception to the scheduling of no more than 8 hours within a duty period, but it is limited to a single duty period, two-segment ID to be scheduled or rescheduled up to 8 hours and 30 minutes.  Again, this 8 hour and 30 minute exception can only be made for a two-segment, one-duty period trip – and it must be followed by the minimum requirement of 16 hours free from duty. 

Whatever your schedule, be sure to protect the legalities we fought so hard to maintain every time you fly.