Jetstar airlines has been accused of exploiting cabin crew and demanding they work 20-hour shifts, compromising cabin safety.
Current and former crew members of the Qantas-owned budget airline say the practice leaves them extremely fatigued.
Jetstar's afternoon flight from Sydney to Bali is a popular service for those escaping the southern Australian winter.
But for one former Jetstar flight attendant who wishes to be called James, the flight is no trip to paradise.
"You start at four in the afternoon and you finish back in Sydney at seven the next morning," he told Lateline.
"It was horrible. I felt like a slave.
"I've had a couple of times where I've had a delay on the Bali flight and that 14-, 15-hour shift would turn into a 19-hour, 20-hour shift."
Captain Richard Woodward, from the Australian and International Pilots Association, says cabin crew do not have the same industrial agreements as pilots.
"The cabin crew are suffering very badly because they don't have a regulated limit on how many hours they can do, particularly foreign crews, and so they are working maximum hours," he said.
"For instance, they are doing Sydney to Bali and back. That's about a 17-hour night - that's very, very fatiguing.
"The pilots fortunately have an industrial agreement."
The practice of making the Jetstar crews fly return shifts, rather than staying overnight like pilots, was raised by independent Senator Nick Xenophon in the Senate inquiry into airline safety earlier this year.
"When cabin crew tell me if there is an emergency they do not think they would be able to cope at the end of a 17- or 18- or 20-hour shift, then it really gives you cause for concern," he said at the time.
And concerns about fatigue are not confined to Jetstar's international flights.
Lateline has obtained over 60 incident reports that show that at least 37 crew members have filed complaints this year to Jetstar management about fatigue and exhaustion after flying the Sydney to Perth and Sydney to Darwin routes.
They have also raised serious concerns about the cabin crews' ability to deal with emergencies.
"I believe that if there was an emergency situation, crew would not be alert enough to respond accordingly," one flight attendant said.
"It is unsafe and I am concerned that it will only be when something unfortunate happens, that something will be done about this," another flight attendant said.
Flight attendants are also worried about their own safety after doing shifts that cross from day into night into morning.
"Driving home after this duty is extremely dangerous and I have found myself almost falling asleep at the wheel," one cabin crew member said.
Foreign crews under strain
And while Jetstar is pushing its Australian-based crews hard, it is the foreign-based crews who are under the most strain.
A third of Jetstar's staff are employed overseas. Their Bangkok cabin crew are employed by a company called Tour East Thailand.
Lateline has obtained a copy of the employment contract for the Thai-based cabin crews.
It states that crew can work shifts up to 20 hours long.
But one line in the contract reads: "The Planned Limit and Operational Extensions may be extended by the Employer."
That means in effect there are no limits to the hours they can be forced to work.
This clause is not in any contracts for Jetstar's Australian-based crews.
"Not only is a clause like that unconscionable; it just seems incredibly unsafe," Senator Xenophon said.
"How will a crew be able to cope with an emergency if they've been required to work in excess of 20 hours in just one shift? It's something that doesn't apply to Australian cabin crew for good reason and it shouldn't apply to foreign-based cabin crew who are doing work here in Australia."
Jetstar declined to be interviewed by Lateline, but in a statement said there were clear limitations on hours.
"Jetstar has clearly established duty limitations that are consistently applied regardless of where our cabin crew are based," the statement said.
"Safety is our number one priority and we have an open culture of reporting issues.
"If a member of our crew is too fatigued, then they should not operate the flight, and we communicate this openly."
Threatened with the sack
Jetstar's Thai-based flight attendants get paid a base wage of $258 a month. Each hour they fly they get another $7 an hour plus allowances.
They do not get paid for sick leave, and have half the annual leave of their Australian colleagues.
While on annual leave they get paid less than normal; that $7 an hour on top of their base wage becomes just $9 a day.
Annika, as she has asked to be called, says foreign-based cabin crew are under immense pressure.
"Asian-based crew aren't unionised and they are constantly threatened with the non-renewal of their contracts should they speak out about anything to do with their jobs," she said.
And there is an extraordinary financial disincentive not to speak out.
If Thai-based crew quit their jobs early or are sacked, they can be forced to pay back up to four-and-a-half months of their base wage.
"Some of our international cabin crew are required to pay a bond as a compensation for investment in training, if a cabin crew member leaves within two years of employment," Jetstar said in a statement.
"This is a locally based arrangement that reflects the local market conditions."
'Mean and tricky'
On April 22, five Thai-based crew - exhausted from a series of international and domestic flights - pulled out of a flight from Sydney to Melbourne, complaining of fatigue.
They were concerned they would not be able to deal with an emergency situation should it arise.
In response they got this letter from their employer Tour East Thailand threatening them with the sack.
"Whilst illness, etc is accepted by your employer, poor time management is not.... TET requires from you an undertaking that you will not repeat these behaviours in the workplace," the letter said.
The letter castigated the crew members for causing damage to the reputation of their employer.
But Tour East Thailand is unlikely to lose its contract with Jetstar; Qantas owns 37 per cent of Tour East Thailand.
"On the face of it, it seems that the Bangkok-based crew are being looked after by an independent contractor at arm's length from Qantas, when in fact Qantas has an iron grip on this company," Senator Xenophon said.
"It's a pretty mean and tricky set of operations and Qantas really needs to come clean on this."
Jetstar cabin crew fear more and more flight attendants will be hired under this model: foreign-based, subcontracted, with lower wages and poorer conditions.
"It's all about the money. It's about making as much money as they can," Annika said.
"We're constantly cutting corners and pushing the crew as that's the only the area where we can save."
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