Is the RLA holding us back on pay?
October 1, 2025 - “Get rid of the RLA.” “Do something about the RLA.” “I vote to get us off the railway labor act!” “Pay me for boarding. “Pay me from report to release.”
There’s been a lot of conversation on the line and around our negotiations about the Railway Labor Act (RLA) and our negotiations priority to be paid for boarding and more of our time at work. Flight Attendants have asked, “Why is it legal for us not to be paid for every hour at work?” Some have pointed fingers at the Railway Labor Act (RLA), believing it’s the reason we’re only paid by flight hours. But the truth is more complex and more important for us to understand as we fight for better compensation.
It’s not the RLA
Many believe the RLA is to blame for our lack of hourly pay throughout our duty day. In reality it’s the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and our exemption from it that is the core issue.
The FLSA is the federal law that guarantees minimum wage and overtime for most American workers. But airline workers have been explicitly exempt from those protections since the law’s inception in 1938. That means we aren’t legally entitled to overtime pay or guaranteed pay for every hour worked under the FLSA like many other workers are.
Why? The exemptions in FLSA Sec. 213 targeted specific industries and their unique operational structures to avoid disrupting their logistics and commerce, thus recognizing the historical challenges of applying rules designed around a standard 40-hour workweek to a sector(s) that must operate continuously and in real-time.
Where the RLA comes in
The FLSA defers to wage and hour systems determined by the parties (unions and management) pursuant to the Railway Labor Act (45 U.S.C. Sec. 151 et seq.).
Our pay system based on flight time originated from airline management’s desire in the 1930s to reduce costs as aircraft got faster. Pilots initially pushed back, forming ALPA in response. Over time, Flight Attendants, originally paid a flat monthly rate, adopted a similar flight-time-based system.
Importantly, nothing in the RLA requires pay to only be based on flight time. Today, many contracts include additional compensation (duty rigs, trip rigs, minimum day, holding pay, etc.) through negotiations. In this round of negotiations, we’re pushing to establish boarding pay as a new industry standard.
The RLA is the framework we use to negotiate better pay—not the thing preventing it. We can and have won better compensation under the RLA than the FLSA would offer.
