AFS-13-170-E

Exemption No. 11151

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION

WASHINGTON, DC 20591

 

In the matter of the petition of 

 

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO. Regulatory Docket No. FAA-2013-0058

 

for an exemption from § 121.467(b)(13) 

of Title 14, Code of 

Federal Regulations 

 

DENIAL OF EXEMPTION

 By letter dated January 22, 2013, Mr. Greg Crum, Director of Operations, Southwest 

Airlines, P.O. Box 36611, Dallas, Texas 75235-1611, petitioned the Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA) on behalf of Southwest Airlines (Southwest) for an exemption from 

14 CFR § 121.467(b)(13). Southwest requests approval to relieve each flight attendant 

engaged in air transportation from all further duty for at least 24 consecutive hours during

‘‘any 168 consecutive-hour period’’ in lieu of ‘‘any 7 consecutive calendar days.’’

Petitioner requests relief from the following regulation:

Section 121.467(b)(13) prescribes, in pertinent part, that except as provided in 

paragraph (c) of this section, a certificate holder conducting domestic, flag, or 

supplemental operations may assign a duty period to a flight attendant only when the 

applicable duty period limitations and rest requirements of this paragraph are met. 

Each certificate holder conducting domestic flag or supplemental operations must 

relieve each flight attendant engaged in air transportation and each commercial operator 

must relieve each flight attendant engaged in air commerce from all further duty for at 

least 24 consecutive hours during any 7 consecutive calendar days.
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Petitioner provides the following supporting information:

The petitioner states that the preamble to the final rule on Flight Attendant Duty Period 

Limitations and Rest Requirements (59 FR 42974) addressed public comments in 

support of replacing 7 consecutive calendar days with a 168 consecutive-hour period. 

Southwest believes the use of consecutive days in duty and rest requirements was

consistent for both flightcrew members and flight attendants from publication of the 

final rule for flight attendant duty and rest until publication of a Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking (NPRM) concerning flightcrew member duty and rest on September 13, 

2010. Southwest states in its petition that “the FAA acknowledged in the NPRM that 

there are similarities between the types of operations and universality of factors that 

lead to fatigue in most individuals.” Southwest asserts that the FAA’s adoption of 

consecutive hours in the flightcrew duty and rest requirements prescribed in 14 CFR 

part 117, which became effective January 4, 2014, creates an inconsistency with flight 

attendant duty and rest requirements. 

The petitioner asserts that granting this exemption will allow Southwest to apply

language from the flightcrew regulations promulgated in 14 CFR part 117 to flight 

attendant scheduling. Southwest believes that relieving a flight attendant from duty for 

at least 24 consecutive hours during any 168 consecutive-hour period is equivalent to 

relieving a flight attendant for 24 consecutive hours in any 7 consecutive calendar days.

Southwest believes that this exemption will have no adverse effect on public safety 

because:

1. Regardless of the “168 consecutive hour” or “7 consecutive calendar day”

distinction, the scheduled duty period limitations of 14 CFR § 121.467(b)(1) 

would still apply. Flight attendants will not be subject to additional duty time as 

a result of this exemption;

2. Required rest between duty periods as provided in 14 CFR §§ 121.467(b)(2) 

and (3) would remain unchanged and continue to protect against flight attendant 

fatigue;

3. Twenty-four consecutive hours of rest free from duty will remain scheduled in a 

time period that is commensurate with the current any 7 consecutive calendar 

days” period;

4. Flight attendants will have the ability to track a time period that begins using the

local time when they begin a legally scheduled duty period, as opposed to 

tracking time periods that begin sometime before that flight attendant reports for 

duty. This ease of tracking ensures that 24 hours of consecutive rest free from

duty is obtained in accordance with the intent of the regulation. In an effort to 

mitigate any confusion surrounding the calendar day/hour distinction and ensure 
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flight attendants are individually accounting for and considering requisite time

periods, Southwest will carefully track the 168 consecutive-hour period for 

flight attendants. While Southwest recognizes 14 CFR § 121.467(b)(13) 

contains no regulatory requirement that flight attendants track such time 

periods, Southwest encourages flight attendants to do so based on the 

commonly held understanding that "[a] flight attendant is in the best position to 

know how many hours he has been on duty. If a flight attendant knows he will 

exceed duty time limitations before the completion of all of his assigned flights 

for the day, he should communicate that fact to both the carrier's management 

and the PIC;” and

5. Southwest will provide training concerning this requested language change by 

bulletin to flight attendants, flight attendant managers, supervisors and trainers. 

Southwest will also have managers and supervisors in the flight attendant

scheduling department provide individual hands-on training to every flight 

attendant scheduler.

A summary of the petition was published in the Federal Register on February 28, 2013 

(78 FR 13745). The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) submitted the sole

comment in opposition of the exemption. AFA contends that granting the petition “is 

not in the public interest because it does not ensure that all of the other provisions of 

the flight crew member rules cited by the petitioner shall apply to its flight attendants as 

the FAA intended in § 121.467.”

The Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) summited the sole comment in 

support of the exemption. TWU asserts that granting the exemption would “improve 

safety at Southwest through operationally consistent application of § 121.467 that is 

both compliant with the regulation yet offers flexible synergies that are required in a 

more global environment.” TWU also believes that “the (any 168 consecutive hour 

period) language is fully supported in spirit and intent of the regulation.”

The FAA’s analysis is as follows:

The FAA carefully considered all information presented by the petitioner and finds that 

granting the petition for exemption would not provide a level of safety equivalent to 

that provided by the rule from which it seeks exemption and, therefore, would not be in 

the public interest. 

The duty and rest requirements in § 121.467 protect flight attendants whose safetysensitive duties could be negatively impacted by work-related fatigue. The FAA 

recognizes that an excessively fatigued flight attendant is less likely to be capable of 

maintaining situational awareness while performing safety-related duties, which 

presents an unacceptable risk. Therefore, in the interest of air transportation and air 

commerce safety, the FAA published a final rule titled, Flight Attendant Duty Period 
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Limitations and Rest Requirements (59 FR 42974), which set forth the flight attendant 

duty and rest requirements contained in § 121.467.

Southwest asserts that the FAA’s adoption of consecutive hours in the flightcrew duty 

and rest requirements prescribed in 14 CFR part 1171 creates an inconsistency with 

flight attendant duty and rest requirements, which rely on a consecutive calendar-day 

period. The petitioner correctly notes that the Flightcrew Member Rest and Duty 

Requirements final rule (77 FR 330) relies on a 168 consecutive-hour period.

However, the underlying philosophy of the rule is that no single element of the rule 

mitigates the risk of fatigue to an acceptable level. Rather, the FAA has adopted a 

system approach, whereby both the carrier and the pilot accept responsibility for 

mitigating fatigue. The rule requires a fitness for duty affirmation as a part of the flight 

release, a defined Fatigue Risk Management Plan, and education and awareness 

training. 

Additionally, the rule provides different requirements based on the time of day, whether 

an individual is acclimated to a new time zone, and the likelihood of being able to sleep 

under different circumstances. The provisions in the rule also acknowledge the impact 

of duty periods during consecutive nights and split duty periods. A carrier that utilizes 

the provisions of § 117.25 for flight attendants would be required to provide 30 hours 

free from duty in any 168 consecutive-hour period as opposed to the 24 hours free from 

duty within 7 calendar days required by the flight attendant regulations. 

The FAA points out that, to ensure that flight attendants have an opportunity for 

adequate rest, § 121.467 was revised to codify the provisions of the pilot duty and rest 

limitations found in part 117. As stated in § 121.467(c)(1), notwithstanding 

paragraph (b) of this section, a certificate holder conducting domestic, flag, or 

supplemental operations may apply the flightcrew member flight time and duty 

limitations and requirements of part 117 of this chapter to flight attendants for all 

operations conducted under this part provided that the flightcrew is subject to part 117.

The current provisions of § 121.467(c) allow air carriers to apply pilot rest and duty 

requirements to flight attendants as an alternative to using the flight attendant duty and 

rest period limitation rule. The FAA published a clarification regarding part 117 

(78 FR 14179) specifiying that, if a flight attendant operates under part 117, that flight 

attendant must comply with the provisions of part 117 that apply to flightcrew 

members. Flightcrew members are required to declare their fitness for duty pursuant to

§ 117.5(d) and go through fatigue education and awareness training pursuant to 

§ 117.9. Accordingly, these requirements would also extend to flight attendants 

operating under part 117. 

 1 Flightcrew Member Duty and Rest Requirements final rule (77 FR 330).
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The flight and duty limitations and rest requirements in part 117 are based on the 

concepts of fatigue risk management and mitigation as a whole. When a carrier opts to 

apply flightcrew member duty and rest requirements to flight attendants, it is obliged to 

include all provisions. Therefore, the FAA finds that granting the requested relief 

would not create consistency between pilot and flight attendant duty and rest 

requirements but, instead, would enable Southwest to selectively apply portions of part 

117 to its flight attendants. 

The FAA’s Decision

In consideration of the foregoing, I find that a grant of exemption would not be in the public 

interest. Therefore, pursuant to the authority contained in 49 U.S.C. §§ 106(f), 40113 and 

44701, delegated to me by the Administrator, the Southwest Airlines petition for an 

exemption from 14 CFR § 121.467(b)(13) is denied.

Issued in Washington, DC, on January 12, 2015. .

/s/

John Barbagallo

Acting Deputy Director, Flight Standards Service