Here's What The 35-7 Rule Really Means For Flight Attendants

Flight attendants have to deal with all sorts of issues when they're working a flight. While some travelers strive to be the best passenger they can be, there are plenty of rough parts of being a flight attendant, like unruly passengers, high-stress situations, and grueling turn-arounds. Thus, given the exhausting work environment flight attendants may find themselves in, there are measures in place that ensure they are not overworked. Here's where the 35-7 rule comes in.

The U.S. Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) guidelines indicate that reserve flight attendants — those who don't have a specific flight assignment and are on-call — cannot work more than 35 hours of flying time within a seven-day period. Line holder flight attendants – those who have the seniority to bid on flights in advance — can only be scheduled for 30-hour flying blocks in that same seven-day window. Of course, there are some permissible exceptions to these rules, but overall, this is industry standard.

To clarify, this rule only applies to actual flying time, and things like ramp congestion delays, standby time, and time readying for departure aren't included in the time block. However, in order to improve conditions and prevent exhaustion, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) enacted a longer rest time between flights for cabin crew in 2022. This ruling states that flight attendants should receive 10 hours of off-duty time between 14-hour shifts, allowing flight crew to receive reasonable rest. Prior to this change, operators only had to abide by nine-hour breaks between flight attendant shifts. The aim of both the 35-7 rule and the regulations for longer rest times is to ensure cabin crew receives proficient rest to function well during a flight.

Pilots have a similar flying cap requirement that's between reserve flight attendants' 35-7 rule and line flight attendants' 30-7 rule — crew on the flight deck can fly up to 32 hours every seven days. On top of that, pilots who have flown for over eight hours in a 24-hour period need to receive, at minimum, an 18-hour rest break between shifts. Overall, pilots should not fly more than 1,000 hours in a 12-month period to prevent burnout and fatigue. Rules vary if flight crews operate with three or more pilots, however, the 1,000-hour ceiling remains in effect across the board for everyone's safety.

Sometimes, though, crew scheduling can make a mistake as they're dealing with a matrix of flights all over the world, and schedules may exceed these flight-time parameters. There are many unusual rules and requirements for being a flight attendant or pilot, but a quality that flight crew should possesses is a willingness to speak up when you think your schedule is out-of-step with current regulations. These rules are not just put in place to protect flight crew from exhaustion, but also to protect the passengers who rely on flight attendants and pilots to be alert and functioning optimally, particularly in the case of an emergency. So, while it may be a pain as a passenger to hear that your crew has timed out, just know it's for their safety as much as yours, and that the flight attendants likely worked a long — and possibly challenging — shift.