Following the Federal Aviation Administration’s announcement of a final rule requiring 10 hours minimum consecutive rest for flight attendants between working flights, TWU International President John Samuelsen issued the following statement:
“We won the fight to guarantee flight attendants at least 10-hours of rest back in 2018 when Congress made this change. The TWU did not wait on the FAA; we led the way by securing 10 hours minimum rest at Southwest Airlines, for our Local 556 members, early this year. Today, the FAA has finally acknowledged that 10-hours of rest has to be a minimum for the hard-working flight attendants who keep us safe at 30,000 feet.
“Fatigued work is unsafe work. This long-overdue change will allow flight attendants the time they need to recover between duty days, in order for them to perform their jobs at full capacity. Especially as assaults continue at record levels and a ‘full moon’ atmosphere of unruly passengers has pervades the airline industry, this change is more important now than ever.
“Now that the FAA has completed work on this rule, and we hope that this means the agency is beginning to take Congressional directives more seriously. This FAA is now 10 years past-due on a rule to raise safety standards for aircraft maintenance and it still has many other changes to implement from the 2018 FAA Reauthorization. It’s past time the FAA completes all of these rule changes, and the TWU continues to push the FAA and elected officials to do so.”