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Fast Fact Friday
“Day Rooms”
Friday, October 3, 2025
Q1: “What is a ‘day room’?”
A ‘day room’ is just a Flight Attendant phrase referring to an assigned hotel room for a ground delay of 4+ hours. While ‘day room’ is not a phrase used in our Contract, the language about hotel rooms being provided for ground time exceeding four (4) hours can be found in Article 35.1.E.
“When a Flight Attendant, including a Reserve, is scheduled for ground time which exceeds four (4) hours (including ground time caused by cancellations, delays {other than rolling delays}, reassignments), the Company will provide the Flight Attendant a hotel room close to the airport upon request. The room will be provided in domicile or out of domicile.”
Q2: “Can a day room be requested in a domicile?”
Yes. Our Pink Contract changed the language in regards to day rooms in domicile. The updated language allows for a hotel room to be assigned when ground time is scheduled for four (4) or more hours in an outstation or domicile.
Q3: “It’s day one of my pairing and I just checked in for my trip… and we’re showing a six (6) hour mechanical delay! Can I request a day room?”
Yes. If at the time of your call to Crew Scheduling, the ground time is scheduled to exceed four (4) hours, you can request and be assigned a day room. This ground time can be at the beginning of your pairing or duty day, or scheduled between two legs.
Q4: “What are the parameters that need to be granted a day room?”
At the time of the call to request your day room, you must have four (4) or more hours of scheduled ground time remaining. If there is 3:59 hours or less of ground time remaining when you contact Crew Scheduling, a day room will not be granted.
Q5: “While in my day room, do I need to remain available to Crew Scheduling or can I silence my phone and take a nap?”
Even though you’ve been assigned a day room, you are still considered on duty. This means you must remain available to Crew Scheduling via cell phone or hotel room phone, just in case there is a change of departure or reschedule.
NOTE: The time spent in your day room is considered active duty time for pay calculations (DHR and the extended duty day premiums/options) and Extended Ground Time Pay (ExGTP).
In the above example, this Flight Attendant experienced 5:02 hours of ground time due to a mechanical in MDW. Let’s take a closer look at all of these numbers.
Duty Day: Every duty day is calculated from check-in/report to end of debrief. This Flight Attendant checked in at 1440 CT and their end of debrief into the RON (AUS) was 0027 CT. This made for a duty day of 9:47 hours.
Extended Ground Time Pay (ExGTP): We are paid 0.1 TFP for every minute of ground time that exceeds 150 minutes, calculated from block-in to block-out. (Article 21.27) This Flight Attendant blocked into MDW at 1630 CT and blocked out at 2132 CT. Even though they received a day room, their ground time was 5:02 hours, or 302 minutes. They will be paid 1.52 TFP (302 minutes – 150 minutes = 152 minutes x 0.1 TFP = 1.52 TFP) of ExGTP on top of the other compensation for that day’s work.
Duty Hour Ratio (DHR): DHR ensures that we are paid at least 0.74 TFP for every hour spent on duty, calculated from check-in/report to end of debrief. (Article 21.22) This means we are paid what we work (leg credits) or days RIGs (including DHR), whichever puts more money in our pockets! When we look at the legs this Flight Attendant worked, we see that the compensation for leg credits would be 4.6 TFP (1.6 TFP + 3 TFP = 4.6 TFP). When we calculate DHR, this minimum pay rule for a duty day of 9:47 hours, is 7.24 TFP. Because DHR (7.24 TFP) pays more than what they flew (4.6 TFP), this Flight Attendant would use 7.24 TFP as this day’s compensation.
Total Compensation: In the above example (without considering other RIGs or pay guarantees), this Flight Attendant would be paid the 7.24 TFP with DHR language applied and then an additional 1.52 TFP of ExGTP, or 8.76 TFP total for this day’s compensation. These two pay elements would be found in two separate buckets on their Payroll Report.