My contract of employment states that CC are entitled to a 20min break after the first 6 hrs of "commencement of an operating flight" and another 20 mins every 4 hrs after that. However as much as we are entitled to that rest, sometimes, depending on pax loads, demands, flight times etc it is impossible to co-ordinate that unless the CSM is willing to adapt the service, cut corners or even delete some services altogether as most airlines now fly with minimum crew but are expected to provide a service that really requires more staff. My airline expects cabin service to be provided every 20 mins, even if it is only offering water, however due to the fact that toilets have to be cleaned and checked every 30 mins, paper work and order forms and bar tallying, customs forms, duty free selling, prep for next service, call lights (I can go on), sometimes there is more behind the scenes work to be done that in the end it is impossible for all crew to take that break (if we are to do everything they ask). Believe me I would rather be out in the cabin than in the galley counting bar stock and filling in forms but it must be done. When the flight is less full or not busy we can take advantage of the fact we can actually sit down and take a break. Many passengers see us going to crew rest on a 2 or 3 hr flight. Some think we only work that sector when in actual fact we have worked maybe a 6 or 7hr flight previous to that. I know very well that if ALL FA's took their rest as awarded the customers would suffer. Some FA's including myself only take my break if I feel I need to, thats why on quiet flights you may see us sitting down in the galley reading, of course we are going to take advantage of that.
Yes I do think FA's are working harder now, airlines are succumbing to passenger demands and providing a much better service which is a great thing but they are also operating with minimum crew to cut costs. Really most of us do the best we can given the conditions we have to work with.
I recently had a flight where the CSM closed all bars 1 1/2 hrs prior to landing. From a pax point of view I would be furious but don't blame us, the orders were coming in so fast and we still had all of the above work to complete before landing and if we had continued the service we would still be on the ground tallying.
We are given a task that on most flights is achievable but sometimes it is impossible (unless all crew forfeit their rest period that we are entitled to).