Federal aviation officials plan to announce Tuesday that flight attendants will soon get more mandated rest time between flights, two sources familiar with the announcement tell CNN.

Washington — The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, in conjunction with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, is calling on the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration to begin enforcing a year-old law that mandates airlines provide flight attendants with a rest break of 10 consecutive hours between periods of duty lasting up to 14 hours.

Washington — A final rule from the Federal Aviation Administration will require airlines to provide flight attendants with at least 10 hours of rest time between days they’re on duty.

Boston — Flight attendants may be at greater risk of developing several types of cancer, recent research from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health indicates.

When contract negotiations between Alaska Airlines and their flight attendants' union broke down in 1993, the union had a choice to make.

The union — The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA — knew that if they chose to strike, Alaska Airlines could use a plan. While Alaska Airlines technically couldn't fire someone on strike, they could permanently replace the striking flight attendants with new workers. Essentially, if the union went on strike, they could risk thousands of people's jobs. The flight attendants knew they needed a counter-strategy.

They went with a strategy they called CHAOS: "Create Havoc Around Our System."

The strategy had two phases. Phase one: The union kept Alaska guessing about when, where, and how a strike might happen. They kept everyone, even their own members, in the dark. And in turn, Alaska Airlines had to be prepared for a strike at any place and any time. Phase two was to go on strike in a targeted and strategic way.

The havoc that the flight attendants created set off a sort-of labor-dispute arms race and would go on to inspire strikes today. And, it showed how powerful it can be to introduce a little chaos into negotiations.

Help support Planet Money and get bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

The majority of U.S. airlines don't pay their flight attendants until the airplane door closes, even though plane boarding is one of the most stressful parts of their job.

One in four Qantas flight attendants have experienced sexual harassment by either a colleague or a passenger in the past year, a survey has revealed.   

Flight attendants have fired back at rapper will.i.am after he accused an air stewardess of racism during a flight to Sydney over the weekend.

The crew flew from Santiago to Sydney on March 29, with all passengers on the flight taken to hotels to quarantine for 14 days.

Social distancing — a term we've all become familiar with — has been nearly impossible to accomplish on an airplane. Until now.

“Recognize that there are going to be social distancing practices at the airport. So there’s no running to the gate at the last minute,” said Sara Nelson, the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA in an interview with Yahoo News.

Dominic Fell, 23, Joe Finnis, 25, and Rachel Clark, 20, were killed when the car they were travelling in collided with a HGV at a junction in Stanwell, Surrey, at 11.39pm on New Year's Eve.