5.20.26 – Senators Duckworth and Baldwin Scrutinize FAA Minimum Crew Standards

APFA Flight Attendants Fight Minimum Crew Staffing Reductions

Wednesday, May 20, 2026

In this hotline:

• APFA Immediately Challenges 787-9P Minimum Crew Staffing Changes in December 2024
• How Does This FAA Minimum Crew Reduction Affect Our Competitors?
• Was the Boeing 787 ever certified with a live, full-scale evacuation?
• How Does the Minimum Crew Reduction Affect Our Profession?

Last week, Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) issued a formal letter to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Bryan Bedford raising urgent concerns about the FAA-permitted reduction of minimum crew on dual-aisle widebody aircraft, including the 787-9P at American Airlines. Read the CBS News article here.

The reduction of minimum crew leaves an exit door unstaffed by a certified Flight Attendant during an emergency evacuation when the aircraft is staffed with minimum crew.

Read the full letter to FAA Administrator Bedford here

APFA National President Julie Hedrick, along with APFA Government Affairs
and Safety Representatives, discussing evacuation standards with Senator Duckworth.

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APFA Immediately Challenges 787-9P Minimum Crew Staffing Changes in December 2024 

Since the FAA recertified the 787-9P on June 25, 2025, APFA has led the fight against reduced minimum crew staffing on dual-aisle aircraft. In December of 2024,  when American Airlines informed APFA that it intended to seek approval to operate the 787-9P with reduced minimum crew and the potential for an untrained professional at each exit door, we immediately took action. Thousands of APFA Flight Attendants contacted management to tell them to prioritize passenger and crew safety by ensuring a trained Flight Attendant is present at every dual-aisle emergency exit door:

• June 6, 2025: A Call to Action: 787-9P Minimum Staffing
• June 26, 2025: Call to Action! AA Certifies 787-9P with Seven Flight Attendants

After making management aware of Flight Attendant safety concerns, APFA took the fight to Capitol Hill.

• July 23, 2025: APFA Letter to FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford
• October 13, 2025: APFA Leads the Push for Stronger Minimum Crew Standards on Capitol Hill
• December 2, 2025: APFA Continues Efforts to Correct FAA Minimum Crew Reduction on Widebody Aircraft

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How Does This FAA Minimum Crew Reduction Affect Our Competitors?

APFA was not aware until American Airlines’ FAA filing that our competitors had already been operating under newly recertified minimum crew standards for some time:

• In 2017, Delta Air Lines quietly gained the ability to staff similarly sized A330- 200/300 aircraft with an FAA minimum of six (6) Flight Attendants, allowing the ability to leave two (2) emergency exit doors unattended.
• In 2020, United Airlines gained the ability to staff their 787-8, 787-9, and 787-10 series with an FAA minimum of seven (7) Flight Attendants.

It’s time to speak up and speak out for safety!

This effort, driven by decisions made in corporate boardrooms across the industry, went largely unchallenged until APFA Flight Attendants launched their Call to Action and began outreach to lawmakers and regulators. American Airlines had a clear opportunity to lead the industry by prioritizing safety and setting a higher standard than its competitors. Instead, it chose to pursue cost-cutting measures that compromise safety. 

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Was the Boeing 787 ever certified with a live, full-scale evacuation?

As everyone assumed, a live, full-scale evacuation drill did not take place. Shockingly, the FAA approved the 787-9P minimum crew reduction using a combination of computer analysis from the initial 787 certification and a partial evacuation exercise. The “mini evacuation” exercise was conducted by seven (7) Flight Attendants using only four (4) doors and 11 passenger “observers,” none of whom actually exited the aircraft on a slide.

This evacuation exercise was not at all representative of an actual emergency evacuation and did not test evacuation safety in any realistic way. It was nothing more than a checked box.

Last week’s CBS News article quotes the FAA as saying a full evacuation occurred upon certification of the Boeing 787, which we know is not the case.

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How Does the Minimum Crew Reduction Affect Our Profession?

Reductions to minimum crew and unattended dual-aisle exit doors threaten the very foundation of our profession: safety.Passengers are not trained or briefed to operate aircraft doors, assess external conditions for smoke, fire, water, or engine conditions, await and execute flight deck commands, manually deploy evacuation slides, or respond to onboard security threats. An unattended emergency exit will result in untrained, panicked passengers operating the door in potentially unsafe conditions, thereby increasing danger at a vulnerable moment.

Our message to the ‘C-Suites’ across the industry is simple:
Safety must be proactive, not reactive. APFA Flight Attendants refuse to wait for a tragedy to demonstrate the necessity of at least one Flight Attendant at every dual-aisle widebody exit door.