FMLA for Airline Flight Crews: What You Need to Know

Airline jobs don’t exactly follow the standard 9-to-5. Pilots, flight attendants, and other flight crew members often work irregular hours and long travel days, sometimes across time zones.

When life throws a curveball and you need time off, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) could be the protection you’re counting on. But because airline schedules are so unique, the FMLA includes special eligibility rules and leave calculations for flight crew employees.

Below, we break down how the FMLA applies to airline workers, including who qualifies, how much time you can take, and what protections you have while you’re on leave.

What Is The FMLA?

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a federal law that allows eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave each year for certain family or medical reasons. Some of the most common reasons include:

• Caring for a newborn or newly adopted child
• Recovering from a serious health condition
• Caring for a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition
• Handling needs related to a family member’s military deployment
• Providing care for a service member with a serious injury or illness

While you’re on FMLA leave, your employer must continue your health insurance coverage as if you were still working. And when you return, they’re required to reinstate you to your original position, or one that’s nearly identical.

Who Qualifies as an Airline Flight Crew Member?

Under the FMLA, you’re considered a flight crew employee if you serve in one of the following roles:

• Pilot or co-pilot
• Flight attendant
• Flight engineer
• Flight navigator

Keep in mind, other airline employees—like baggage handlers, gate agents, and ticketing staff—don’t fall under the FMLA’s special flight crew provisions. Instead, they’re covered by the standard FMLA rules that apply to most workers.

Example:

Timothy is a baggage handler, so he follows the general FMLA guidelines. Martin, a flight attendant, qualifies under the special rules for airline flight crew employees.

How Do Flight Crew Employees Qualify for FMLA?

Unlike most workers who must meet the standard 1,250-hour requirement, flight crew employees follow a different set of criteria. To be eligible for FMLA leave, you must meet both of the following conditions in the previous 12 months:

• Worked or been paid for at least 60% of your total monthly guarantee, and
• Accumulated at least 504 duty hours

What’s a Monthly Guarantee?

Your monthly guarantee is the minimum number of hours your airline agrees to schedule or pay you for, regardless of whether you are a line holder or in reserve status.

What Are Duty Hours?

Duty hours are the hours you were actually on the clock, either working or being paid. This does not include vacation, sick leave, or commute time.

If you hit both of these benchmarks, then you qualify for FMLA leave as a flight crew employee.

How FMLA Leave Is Calculated for Flight Crew

Because airline schedules don’t follow a typical Monday-to-Friday rhythm, the FMLA uses a different system to calculate leave for flight crew employees. Instead of “12 workweeks,” you’re credited with a uniform six-day workweek to keep things consistent.

That breaks down to:

• 72 days of leave per year for most qualifying FMLA reasons
• 156 days of leave per year if you're taking military caregiver leave

Examples:

• Celine, a pilot, takes four weeks off for her own serious health condition. That’s calculated as 4 weeks × 6 days = 24 days of leave used.
• David, a flight engineer, takes six weeks to care for his spouse, recovering from a military injury. That equals 6 weeks × 6 days = 36 days out of his 156-day military caregiver entitlement.

This system helps align leave with the unique scheduling patterns of airline crew members.

Taking FMLA Leave Intermittently or on a Reduced Schedule

If you only need to take leave occasionally, such as for weekly treatments or to care for a loved one from time to time, the FMLA allows intermittent or reduced-schedule leave, including for airline flight crews.

That said, the rules for flight crew have a few key differences:

• Leave is counted in full-day increments, even if you're only gone for a few hours
• Partial-day absences still count as a full day under FMLA rules
• If it’s physically impossible to return mid-shift, like when your flight has already departed, your entire missed shift is protected as leave

Examples:

• Martin, a flight attendant, misses his scheduled flight because of a two-hour medical appointment. Even though he was only gone a short time, the entire day counts as FMLA leave.
• Emma, a flight engineer, spends part of her day caring for a parent and can’t report for duty. That full day is considered leave, regardless of how many hours she missed.

This approach reflects the unique challenges of airline operations, ensuring that your job remains protected, even when your schedule is unpredictable.

What Records Does Your Employer Need to Keep?

For flight crew members, airlines must maintain specific documentation to ensure accurate FMLA eligibility and leave tracking. Required records include:

• Your monthly guarantee (the minimum number of hours you're scheduled or paid for)
• Collective bargaining agreements or similar documents that outline your work expectations
• A detailed log of hours worked and hours paid

These records are essential to confirm whether you qualify for leave and how much leave time you’ve used.

You’re Also Protected from Retaliation

The FMLA is designed to protect your rights, not just your time off. That means your employer can’t retaliate against you for using or requesting FMLA leave. They also can’t:

• Deny leave unfairly
• Fire or demote you
• Cut your hours
• Threaten or intimidate you for asserting your rights

If they do, they may be violating federal law.

State Laws Could Offer More

Some states provide additional protections beyond those offered by the federal FMLA. These state laws may provide:

• Paid leave
• Longer leave periods
• More flexible eligibility criteria

You’re always entitled to the most protective law that applies, whether that’s state, local, or federal.

What To Do If You Think Your Rights Were Violated

If your employer refuses to let you take eligible leave, miscalculates your leave time, or even retaliates against you for using it, you are allowed to fight back.

Depending on the nature of your case, you may need to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. For more serious cases, consider consulting an attorney to learn more about your legal options. 

The bottom line here is that if you’ve earned your time off, you shouldn’t be penalized for using it.

Let America’s Largest Injury Firm Review Your Case

If your employer miscounted your FMLA hours, denied your leave unfairly, or retaliated against you in any way, Morgan & Morgan, the nation’s largest injury firm, may be able to help. Our labor and employment attorneys advocate for workers across all industries, including airline professionals. Get in touch today for a free and confidential case review.

This blog post is based on fact sheets from the U.S. Department of Labor and is for informational purposes only.