American flight attendant per diem and hotels

How is per diem paid?

Per diem is paid for each trip hour, prorated to the nearest minute. International rates apply to all service to and from international destinations. § 4.A.1 § 4.A.2 The contract’s rates by effective date:

Per diem also applies in these cases:

• Training away from your crew base: all hours away from base, including check-in and check-out for the deadhead to or from recurrent training. § 4.A.3
• Training at your base: all actual hours in training, except distance learning. § 4.A.4 § 4.A.5
• Away from base at places that aren’t regular system layover stations: reasonable actual expenses for meals, or the rate for each trip hour, whichever is greater. § 4.A.6
• Assigned a trip while on reserve standby: from the start of the standby until you are released at your crew base at the end of the sequence. § 4.A.7
• Deadheading. § 16.B

When do you get a hotel room?

The company must provide a single occupancy hotel room when you have a scheduled or unscheduled layover, or when ground time exceeds four hours block-to-block, whether scheduled or projected. § 6.B.1 On an On-Duty All-Nighter (ODAN) sequence with ground time of four hours or more, the room is scheduled when the sequence is built. § 6.B.1.d ODAN sequences get overnight accommodation at an airport hotel if one exists and it is consistent with the comparable properties used for short overnights; if not, the company works with the APFA Hotel Committee to pick a suitable hotel as close to the airport as possible. § 6.B.2 On an ODAN with a segment of more than two hours of block time, an airport hotel must be used if one exists. § 11.L.6

If your regular hotel isn’t available or your crew is diverted, the company must provide like lodging. If it can’t, you’re allowed reasonable actual expenses for like lodging, with a receipt. § 6.B.4

You don’t have to give a credit card to check in. § 6.D.1 If you choose not to stay at the assigned hotel, you must notify the company electronically within one hour after release time and give a contact number. § 6.D.6

What if the company is late with a hotel assignment?

After a schedule change that needs a hotel, the company must give you a hotel assignment. If it hasn’t notified you within one hour of the later of block-in at the actual layover city or the schedule modification, you are paid at 150% and credited at 100% for the duty period before the layover. If it takes three hours, that applies to the entire sequence instead. § 6.B.5.a You get one or the other, not both, even if you find a room yourself. § 6.B.5.b

What are the hotel standards?

Hotel choices are made with the APFA Hotel Committee, who must consider things like 24-hour food service or transport, rooms on the second floor or higher away from elevators, ice machines and stairwells, blackout curtains, quiet climate control, free Wi-Fi and secure, non-stop transportation. § 6.B.3 Flight attendants are offered the same hotel list as pilots unless the APFA Hotel Committee objects to a particular hotel. § 6.B.8 On Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, the company arranges for crew hotels to provide a crew meal if local restaurants are closed. § 6.D.4

What about transportation and parking?

The company provides transportation at all layover stations. § 6.C.1 Away from your crew base, if scheduled transportation isn’t available within 20 minutes of your request, you can take alternate transportation to the hotel (10 minutes on overnights scheduled for under 10 hours 30 minutes). § 6.C.2 The hotel pays, or you’re reimbursed or given a cab voucher. § 6.C.2.a § 6.C.2.b

All flight attendants, local or commuting, receive a company-paid parking permit at their base or at an American station of their choice. § 4.D.1 Expense claims must be submitted within 60 days of the occurrence. § 4.D.5 On flights over 12 scheduled block hours the company provides crew meals. § 4.C.1

All hotels questions

No questions published yet.