The Biden administration has given its backing to a gaggle of California-based flight attendants who gained a decrease courtroom ruling that discovered Virgin America didn’t abide by the state’s meal and relaxation break regulation.
The Justice Division’s solicitor normal instructed the U.S. Supreme Courtroom it mustn’t take up an enchantment after the ninth Circuit sided with flight attendants in a 2021 determination.
The decrease courtroom stated airways might adjust to each Federal Aviation Administration security guidelines and California’s meal and break requirement by “employees[ing] longer flights with further flight attendants to be able to enable for duty-free breaks.”
Virgin America, which was acquired by Alaska Air Group in 2016, instructed the Supreme Courtroom the choice might wreak “nationwide havoc within the airline trade” and require airways so as to add a number of flight attendants per flights, and inevitably pilots, and “will displace paying passengers.”
Alaska Airways stated Wednesday it plans to file a response to the Justice Division, including “uniform nationwide requirements are essential to making sure the protection of the U.S. air transportation system. The appliance of particular person state legal guidelines would introduce unacceptable ranges of danger and complexity to air journey.”
Legal professionals for the flight attendants stated the influence can be restricted to flights fully inside California, including “it’s undisputed that Virgin can adjust to these necessities by merely staffing any wholly-intrastate flights with an extra flight attendant — on the marginal value of $100 per flight.
Airways for America, a gaggle representing American Airways, United Airways and others, stated the California guidelines must be preempted by federal regulation and urged the Supreme Courtroom to reverse the choice.
The group stated “the one manner airways can adjust to these legal guidelines is so as to add extra flight attendants on ‘longer’ flights and to schedule longer floor instances between ‘shorter’ flights.”
The Justice Division stated the Transportation Division and FAA “are ready to facilitate discussions exterior of this litigation with the airways, unions, and states to handle and decrease some other potential disruption to the touring public that would come up.”
