12/08 - Recently the FAA has sent out fatigue surveys to a select number of flight attendants. We are urging those of you who receive the survey to diligently complete and return it to the FAA. This survey is vital as it could possibly help change the FAR's which govern crew rest.

As airlines restructure and cut corners to make ends meet, flight attendants are experiencing a new industry trend that must be put to rest.  At many AFA carriers, flight attendants are being forced to work to the point of exhaustion because of poorly scheduled duty time, lengthened duty days due to concessionary bargaining, or flagrant company violations of flight attendants’ schedules.

The fatigue that more and more AFA members are experiencing on the job can affect our emergency and evacuation duties.  In an era of heightened security with the need for constant vigilance, we cannot afford to be exhausted on the job. 

In 1996, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) acknowledged that flight attendant fatigue could impact our job performance and implemented the Flight Attendant Duty and Rest requirements.  Current FAA flight attendant rest rules require a minimum of 9 hours, which can be reduced to 8 hours if the following rest period is 10 hours.  If, the “rest period” includes exiting the airport, local transportation to a rest facility (hotel), a meal, preparation for bed at night and then transportation back to the airport for the next duty day, perhaps the minimum rest period requirements need to be revisited.

If you have experienced fatigue or duty time problems, please fill out the survey by following this link.
 

Crew Rest and Contactability - Read about it here

Reduced Rest