Days off
Rostered days free of all duty at home base; the number per month is one of the biggest quality-of-life differences between airlines.
Definition
Days off are calendar days at home base on which the airline may not roster any duty, including standby. Regulators set a floor — EASA requires a recurrent extended recovery rest of at least 36 hours including two local nights each week, with longer breaks periodically — and contracts and company policy set the actual number, which ranges from eight to twelve a month. A day off is only a day off if it is a full local day; a late arrival at 01:00 followed by a "day off" is a rest period, not a day off, under most rules.
What it means for you
Count them before you sign: two extra days off a month is the equivalent of an extra three weeks a year, and it is the number that predicts fatigue better than salary does. Check also how the airline treats days off adjacent to trips — whether you can be called on the last one, and whether a delayed return eats into the first.
In practice
Lufthansa's tariff-regulated rosters give roughly 10–12 days off a month and British Airways' 9–11, while Emirates and Qatar Airways typically publish 8–10 and 8–9 respectively.
Go deeper
Related terms
4 terms- Rest periodRoster & schedulingThe uninterrupted time free of all duties that must separate two duties: 12 hours at base and 10 away under EASA, 10 hours under the FAA.
- RosterRoster & schedulingYour published block of duties for the month: flights, standbys, training, days off and leave, built against legal duty limits.
- Block hoursRoster & schedulingTime from the aircraft first moving under its own power to the parking brake being set: the unit airlines pay by and regulators cap.
- FatigueCrew lifeReduced alertness from sleep loss and circadian disruption — a regulated safety issue with a reporting system you are obliged to use.