I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 14

To amend the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to provide for the establishment

of limitations on the duty time for flight attendants.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 5, 1993

Mr. MINETA (for himself and Mr. OBERSTAR) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on Public Works and Transportation

A BILL

To amend the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to provide for

the establishment of limitations on the duty time for

flight attendants.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Flight Attendant Duty

5 Time Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO THE FEDERAL AVIATION ACT.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title VI of the Federal Aviation

8 Act of 1958 (49 U.S.C. App. 1421–1433) is amended by

9 adding at the end thereof the following new section:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 614. DUTY TIME OF FLIGHT ATTENDANTS.

2 ‘‘(a) RULEMAKING PROCEEDING.—Not later than 60

3 days after the date of the enactment of this section, the

4 Secretary shall initiate a rulemaking proceeding for the

5 purpose of establishing limitations on duty time for flight

6 attendants, including minimum rest requirements.

7 ‘‘(b) FINAL REGULATIONS.—Except in any case in

8 which the prohibitions referred to in subsection (c) take

9 effect, the Secretary shall issue, not later than 240 days

10 after the date of the enactment of this Act, final regula11 tions establishing limitations on duty time for flight at12 tendants, including minimum rest requirements as follows:

13 ‘‘(1) For a domestic flight, a maximum of 14

14 hours of actual duty time, plus a maximum of 2 ad15 ditional hours spent deadheading to return to the

16 flight attendant’s domicile, and a minimum of at

17 least 10 consecutive hours of rest after each duty pe18 riod.

19 ‘‘(2) For an international flight, a maximum of

20 16 hours of actual duty time and minimum of at

21 least 12 consecutive hours of rest after each duty pe22 riod.

23 ‘‘(3) For a long-range international nonstop

24 flight, a maximum period of actual duty time no

25 more than 4 hours greater than the scheduled duty

26 time, with a maximum period of actual duty time no
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1 greater than 20 hours, and a minimum consecutive

2 rest period equal to at least twice the scheduled

3 flight time.

4 ‘‘(4) For all flight attendants, a minimum of

5 eight 24 consecutive hour periods of rest at their

6 domicile per calendar month and at least one 24

7 hour consecutive period of rest within every 7 days.

8 ‘‘(5) For all flight attendants, at least a contin9 uous 1 hour rest break on any flight scheduled for

10 8 hours or more of flight time in a designated rest

11 area.

12 ‘‘(c) MANDATED PROHIBITIONS.—If the Secretary

13 does not initiate a rulemaking proceeding under sub14 section (a) before the 60th day following the date of the

15 enactment of this Act or does not issue final regulations

16 under subsection (b) before the 240th day following such

17 date of enactment, no air carrier may after such date oper18 ate an aircraft using a flight attendant who has been on

19 duty more hours, or who has had fewer hours of rest, than

20 those required by paragraphs (1) through (5) of sub21 section (b).

22 ‘‘(d) MODIFICATION OF MANDATED PROHIBI23 TIONS.—The Secretary may issue regulations modifying

24 the prohibitions contained in paragraphs (1) through (5)

25 of subsection (b) if the Secretary determines that such
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1 modifications are in the interest of safety and transmits

2 a copy of the modifying regulations to the Committee on

3 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and

4 the Committee on Public Works and Transportation of the

5 House of Representatives. The modifying regulations may

6 not take effect until the expiration of the 90-day period

7 beginning on the date of the transmittal of the modifying

8 regulations to such committees.

9 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following

10 definitions apply:

11 ‘‘(1) AIR CARRIER.—The term ‘air carrier’

12 means any air carrier which is subject to the provi13 sions of part 121 or part 135 of title 14 of the Code

14 of Federal Regulations.

15 ‘‘(2) DEBRIEFING TIME.—The term ‘debriefing

16 time’ means a time period of at least 30 minutes for

17 domestic flight and of at least 45 minutes for inter18 national flight after the block-in time of the last

19 flight or segment of a flight.

20 ‘‘(3) DESIGNATED REST AREA.—The term ‘des21 ignated rest area’ means a passenger seat of an air22 craft assigned for crew rest purposes.

23 ‘‘(4) DOMESTIC FLIGHT.—The term ‘domestic

24 flight’ means any flight or segment of a flight
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1 worked by a flight attendant totally within the 48

2 contiguous States and the District of Columbia.

3 ‘‘(5) DUTY TIME.—The term ‘duty time’ means

4 all time worked for an air carrier at any place and

5 in any capacity and, with respect to flying, shall

6 begin at the required report time and shall end at

7 the conclusion of the debriefing time, or when re8 leased by the carrier, whichever is later. Duty time

9 accrues until the crewmember is given a required

10 rest period by the carrier. Time spent deadheading,

11 either on an aircraft or by surface transportation, to

12 or from an assignment by an air carrier, time spent

13 ferrying, and time spent attending meetings and

14 training shall also be considered duty time. Duty

15 time continues—

16 ‘‘(A) throughout a rest period of a shorter

17 duration than that contained in subsection

18 (b)(1), (b)(2), or (b)(3), as the case may be;

19 and

20 ‘‘(B) during in-flight rest periods contained

21 in subsection (b)(5).

22 ‘‘(6) INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT.—The term

23 ‘international flight’ means any flight worked by a

24 flight attendant for which a take off or landing is
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1 scheduled outside the 48 contiguous States and the

2 District of Columbia.

3 ‘‘(7) LONG-RANGE INTERNATIONAL NONSTOP

4 FLIGHT.—The term ‘long-range international non5 stop flight’ means a single nonstop international

6 flight scheduled for 8 hours or more of flight time.

7 ‘‘(8) REPORT TIME.—The term ‘report time’

8 means a time period of at least 30 minutes prior to

9 the scheduled departure time of the first flight or

10 segment of a flight in a flight attendant’s duty pe11 riod or the time the flight attendant is required to

12 report to work, whichever is earlier.

13 ‘‘(9) REST.—The term ‘rest’ means uninter14 rupted time free from all duty.

15 ‘‘(10) SCHEDULED FLIGHT TIME.—The term

16 ‘scheduled flight time’ means the elapsed time based

17 on the time shown in schedules given by an air car18 rier to a travel agent.

19 ‘‘(11) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’

20 means the Secretary of Transportation.’’.

21 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con22 tents contained in the first section of the Federal Aviation

23 Act of 1958 is amended by adding at the end of the matter

24 relating to title VI the following:

‘‘Sec. 614. Duty time of flight attendants.

‘‘(a) Rulemaking proceeding.

‘‘(b) Final regulations.
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‘‘(c) Mandated prohibitions.

‘‘(d) Modification of mandated prohibitions.

‘‘(e) Definitions.’’.

Æ