One of the world’s largest airlines is facing a lawsuit from a bereaved flight attendant, with the individual suing 
The flight attendant, Christopher John, flies for the airline to and from its 
‘Not Properly Paid’
The flight attendant is suing American Airlines due to the belief that flight attendants aren’t properly paid due to parts of the travel process that are usually excluded from the individual’s time sheet. This time, which is not counted in payroll or overtime, excludes the likes of the requirement that crew members arrive at the airport two hours before departure, and the time that is taken for boarding, deplaning, and shuttles to and from the airport, and or hotel stopovers.
According to the claim, it suggests that all of the above activities noted should ‘fall squarely within their day-to-day job duties’. American Airlines has hit back, noting that the airline already offers more than the minimum wage and overtime rate, and that the exceptions noted above are due to most attendants holding a union contract, which outlines expected pay practices.
Simple Flying reached out to American Airlines for comment on the matter, but the airline did not immediately respond by the time this article was published. It is likely due to this matter being in litigation that no comment can currently be provided.
Exempting Overtime Requirements
Already, it seems clear that there will be a motion to dismiss this current case, due to state law already outlining, as per the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act, that would ‘expressly exempt employees of an air carrier from overtime requirements if their hours of work, wages, and overtime compensation are governed by a collective bargaining agreement’.
Flight attendants for the Fort Worth-based airline are currently represented by the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which includes around 28,000 members. A recent review of the union’s contracts was undertaken just last year (2024), and its validity is expected to remain until 2029.
Both the attorney for John and the lawyers who represent American Airlines, both had declined to comment further on the matter, as reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer. It is common practice for flight attendants, regardless of which airline they fly for, not to be paid for time on the ground. This is due to the pay structure that usually promises up to one hour paid flight time for every two hours of duty; however, some airlines are starting to change this, such as partial compensation offered at 
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Why Are Flight Attendants Only Paid When The Doors Are Closed?
As already outlined, flight attendants usually are not paid until the aircraft’s doors are closed due to historic laws that focused on specifically ‘wheel turning’ time, as suggested by NPR. This results in flight attendants potentially having multiple hours of ‘unpaid’ time related to work practices.
However, contrary to this is the fact that some contracts offer a gaurantee of one hour of paid flight time for every two hours on duty, which means that if the flight attendant starts their day at 06:00 am, and finishes this 12 hours later, a guarantee of six hours will be paid, even if there is not a total number of six hours flying througout the day.
Many airlines have seen their crew take to the picket line to challenge these conditions, and Delta took stock of this and began paying flight attendants in 2022 for half their hourly rate when boarding. There are caveats to this, which include its dependence on its destination, aircraft type, and maximum time for boarding.