Source: Elines

Often a topic of confusion & discussion is determining our maximum actual duty day and the time at which the door must be closed to remain legal.

To begin to answer these questions, let’s review the maximum duty time legalities found in JCBA Section 6 - Minimum Pay and Credit, Hours of Service, and Contractual Legalities.

Domestic Maximum Duty Time

The above duty time provisions are based on the Flight Attendant’s Home Domicile Time(HDT).

*Limited to no more than seven hours (7:00) flight time, unless the duty period contains a single segment, in which case the single segment may exceed seven (7:00) hours of flight time; ground time no greater than two hours and thirty minutes (2:30) and no more than one flight segment after a red-eye flight. A redeye flight is one with any portion scheduled to operate from 0200 to 0400, local time.

**A High Value Trip (HVT) shall be limited to a single duty period starting between 0500 and 1859, containing no more than three (3) flight segments with a total flight time of nine hours (9:00) or more.

International Maximum Duty Time

Under no circumstances shall a Flight Attendant be required to remain on duty, without her/his concurrence, in excess of the applicable maximum hours shown in the charts above, including deadheading.

Calculating What Time We Go Illegal

Below is a simple formula that applies to all domestic duty times and all international duty times except the “Non-Stop 12:01 or over” category which displays the calculation in the chart above. 

Maximum Actual Duty Time                        __________________

Subtract Scheduled Duty Time          -        __________________

(This number represents how much time we have to play with before we go illegal)

Add Scheduled Departure Time         +        __________________

Equals Time You Go Illegal               =        __________________