Originally Posted by FleetSnarl

The duty days have seemed to be getting longer and the overnights shorter since before the MAX situation.

I noticed it starting with the implementation of FAR 117 and it has seemed to steadily worsen as the -800 has become a larger portion of the fleet.

FAR 117 allowed duty days with nine hours of block. Combine that factor with the longer turn times required by the -800 and the ripple effect throughout the system is longer duty days and shorter overnights.

I see many duty days now that would have been illegal pre-117 in terms of block time. Also, gone (for the most part) are 20 or 25 minute turns that used to be the norm. The new normal seems to be 40 to 60 minute turns, and in some cases longer. Several recent 3-days had close to two-hour ground times each day of the trip.

Finally, the union failed to realize that the -800 and FAR 117 would have this kind of an impact (though some tried to point it out at the time) and allowed our duty rigs and other work rules to remain the same despite a relatively significant change to our operating environment. Therefore, the company has no incentive to reign in the expansion of duty day periods and the contraction of overnight lengths.

The argument that prevailed was that the -800 (despite nearly 40 additional seats) would be able to be turned in the same amount of time as the 143-seat jets. They tried to do that at first and our on-time metrics imploded.