I don't think it is extendable. Your max duty will vary based on your scheduled flight time for the day, so it may be less then 13.

 

I am sure the FAA looked at most companies contracts and came up with an average of what we already have. Then put together this new law. Now they can go to congress and tell them what a bang up job they did, hand out pay raises and go back to doing what they do best. Nothing.

 

A company could probably require that you live in a certain geographic area as a condition of employment but airline's don't WANT to do that...it would drastically reduce their pool of applicants (depending on the domicile) and would require higher wages in long run.

The government however, has no legitimate basis for making such a requirement. Cops can be required to live in their jurisdiction, but that's because they want their stabilizing presence, it's not to babysit them. It wouldn't hold up in court.

They will actually not be able to do this either, I think it would run afoul of legal requirements for consistent treatment of all employees. They cannot just require the commuters to be "in domicile" ten hours early...what the hell is "domicile"?

Also being present in domicile does not guarantee rest, if I arrive early do I go to sleep? No, I go to the gym What about the local guys who stayed up to party the night before (while I went to bed early because I had an early commute), or the guy with the screaming baby who's up all night? There's no way to apply that fairly.

They only way they could do this would be to require ALL flight crew to arrive at a company-provided rest area 8-10 hours early to ENSURE that rest occurs. That would actually be just fine with me...but I will damn well get PAID block for it

Then what about layovers? It would be arbitrary (and therefore probably illegal) to apply silly rules on day one but not regulate layovers. The hotels would have to track our comings-and-goings and provide a report to the company to ensure we are getting rest behind closed doors. The internet, cable TV, and most lights would of course be de-activated during rest hours.

Actually I was told by someone who should have some insight that the FAA dropped any attempt to regulate commuting early on in their review process. There was no way to do it fairly and legally and the airlines would have been opposed because it would drive up labor costs.

The Bloomberg article matches exactly with what I heard. I'm OK with ten flight hours as long as there is a leg limit (preferably two). If I'm allowed to be on duty anyway, may as well get paid.

 

So based on this alone, essentially they eliminated reduced rest, made changes that we all already have, and upped the block allowed in the day. Looks like things got worse. Hopefully the announcement has more details that are missing here. When considering the fact that the next change could be in 2050, I'm pretty disappointed so far.

 

I like what I see, but...

Have they changed max allowed in 7, 30 days, and for the year? If it gets reduced we take a pay cut!

 

give me two 4 day trips at 35 hours a piece. Good thing!

 

MOD INPUT: I merged the two threads on this subject, into the regional forum thread which was larger and started first.

 

Unfortunately this "public comment period" aka "airlines counter offer" period will end with something less restrictive than what the proposal is. The airlines will fight tooth and nail over the 9-13 hr max duty day.

 

Two of my better trips this month won't be allowed under this proposal. A very productive 3 day trip and a great CDO/Highspeed/nap.

A downside to this proposal is that only the really bad naps with a short RON will still be legal. The great naps that pay well will no longer comply. In addition, it will be very hard to build productive 3 day trips, especially for those airplanes that primarily do short legs. Get ready for more 4 day trips.

 

Like someone said earlier - be careful what you wish for. Those of you that seem to think you are going to get paid more (or the same) to fly less hours with the same number of days off, you might be dreaming...if you think this means working 8 hour days, like the rest of the world, then you can probably plan on two days off a week, like the rest of the world.