Originally Posted by
iamthehpt
I recently was on a Christmas Eve flight from DFW to SMF which was delayed .... I ... learned that they were flying to SMF, then flying the return flight to DFW. The four hour delay meant that they would miss Christmas Eve evening with their families. Due to the delay, the crew would be legal "on paper only" to fly the return flight but technically had exceeded their legal flying time and would have been within their rights to refuse to fly.!
It sounds like from what you've written that they were "technically legal" to work on the flight you were on from DFW-SMF, but not on the return flight. They needed to get back to DFW to be with their families.
Originally Posted by
iamthehpt
Supervisors advised the crew to decide for themselves whether to fly the return flight or not. The crew decided to fly.
It seems that the cabin crew weren't being asked to decide whether or not they wanted to fly DFW-SMF, but whether to turn around and work SMF-DFW. From what you've written, they had no argument based on being "technically illegal" to not fly to SMF.
Since they needed to be back in the DFW area to be with their families, it doesn't seem like they were going above and beyond for the return SMF-DFW passengers. Working the return flight was probably the fastest way home on the 24th.